Compass Points

Aerie Weather Report, February 8, 2012

2012-02-08T16:36:00.005-05:00

This winter has been a weird one. The temperatures have probably averaged right around the average but it's been more of a roller coaster ride than a smooth-lake canoe paddle. One day we might never get above freezing and the next it will be 50 degrees or more. Monday when I went down to Harrisburg and back, the sun shone brightly and the thermometer in the Tundra registered 54 degrees. Tuesday it was overcast and cloudy with a fair breeze from the north and the temp was no more than 30 at its highest. Today it's slightly colder with only the tiniest of a breeze out of the south and a sprinkling of snow flurries.

Speaking of snow, there isn't any on the ground around these parts. That's both good and bad. If it continues this way, there won't be much of a spring freshet in the creeks and rivers so there won't be any flooding to speak of--and after last fall's disaster that's a good thing. The counties and towns are saving tons of money on their snow removal budget which is a boon not soon overlooked. (I just hope they are wise enough to hang on to that money for next November and December.) The bad news is that the little bit of snow we are getting is not adding much to the water table. When it melts now, the ground is too frozen for it to soak in and, as a result, it merely runs off in the streams and rivers heading to the Chesapeake Bay. For all the rain we got last fall, it has been a dry, dry, dry winter.

As to the forecast for the next two weeks, AccuHunch is not terribly encouraging. In the next fourteen days, Mostly Sunny appears just three times, Partly Cloudy twice, Mostly Cloudy once, Cloudy twice, Freezing Rain three times, Showers once, and Dreary twice. (What the heck do they mean by "Dreary?" I have several meteorology courses under my belt and never once saw or heard of a weather condition classed as "Dreary" except in a Jane Eyre or Conan Doyle novel when they spoke of some damp castle upon the moor. Dreary, indeed.

As to the temperatures, it will get colder on Saturday with the high forecast to be just 21 degrees. It will then warm slightly and we'll see the daytime temps in the low 40s from next Tuesday on. (The "Freezing Rain" part must be coming at night when things drop down to the low 20s.) Sounds like the kind of weather the maple sap gatherers would like...if it came a month from now. I don't think the trees are ready to wake up quite yet. Those Ents are hardly hasty folk.

This weather has been playing havoc with our bird feeding. The lack of snow cover means there's plenty of places for the seed eaters to forage. They've only been showing up for an hour or two each day.

The gray squirrels, on the other hand, are another kettle of fish. Sharks. They have been here nearly every day in numbers ranging into double digits. It's not unusual to have four on the deck and the same number over on the side lawn.

It's comical to watch the squirrels at the two stick feeders hanging over the edge of the deck. They grasp the bottom perches and pull the feeder toward them so they can snatch a seed from the openings. They look like little submariners peering through the periscope.

They can empty the one feeder in no time flat. Of the 150 pounds of sunflower seeds I've put out this year, I'd estimate half of it--if not more--went to the squirrels.

Goin' Fishing

2012-02-06T19:27:00.004-05:00

Joe and I booked a northern Quebec fly-in fishing trip for the week of August 9 through August 16.

We were able to get the outpost cabin we wanted. It's the same one we took our sons to when they were 8 and 9 years old...20 years ago.

We also walked around the show's floor for 2-1/2 hours and we didn't go to all the display halls but held ourselves to the hunting and fishing halls.

Blogging Award

2012-02-06T17:30:00.003-05:00

Paul in Anchorage just awarded me (and others) this blog award. The drill is to pass along the 'love' to other bloggers.

Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award

3. Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award. (I'm not sure about the followers count for the blogs I've chosen, but I do enjoy the posts at each of them. Just wish some would post more often. That's a hint Dudley.)

4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.

1. Northview Diary (Threecollie, I don't have your email so help yourself to the award.)
2. Stitchen in the Willows
3. At The Water
4. Scary Yankee Chick
5. Dudleys Diary

Aw gosh. Shucks.

Going shoppin'

2012-02-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

My buddy Joe and I are heading to the Eastern Sports and Outdoors Expo down in Harrisburg Monday morning. We want to book a fishing trip in northern Quebec with Caesar's North Camps for sometime in August.

We've gone with Olivier's for many trips and enjoyed each one. Walleye and Northern Pike are our quarry. The former for their taste and the latter for their fight. If we get to go to the cabin we would like (the first one we ever went to nearly 20 years ago, Hanotaux), we'll be able to bring some of those Walleye home with us to the delight of the wives.

Besides booking a trip, we'll spend a couple hours walking about and checking out all the booths.

There's more than one way to deal with invasive species...

2012-02-03T17:55:00.003-05:00

Puerto Rico to kill iguanas, export meat

The island's government is announcing plans to kill as many of the reptiles as possible and export their meat in hopes of eradicating an imported species that has long vexed residents and entertained tourists.

The U.S. Caribbean territory has roughly 4 million iguanas, which is a little more than the island's human population, according to Daniel Galan Kercado, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.

"This is a very big problem. We have to attack it," he said in an interview Friday. "It has impacted structures, the economy, crops and the ecosystem."

Puerto Rico has long struggled to eradicate the bright green reptiles that can grow up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) long and have a life span of some 20 years. Iguanas are considered an endangered species throughout most of Latin America, but Puerto Rico is overrun with them, in part because they breed so quickly and have few natural predators.

Maybe they can just run a scam like The Freshman. No. Wait. They didn't actually kill the endangered species in that movie.

I wonder what iguana tastes like?

Heh. Doesn't matter. A little stir fry with snap peas, broccoli, some of those baby corns and Sriracha sauce and it'll be fine. Just like chicken!

Just a reminder: Cold Kills

2012-02-03T17:10:00.004-05:00

As a reminder of the devastating effects cold can have on humans, we have this report about the latest cold spell in Europe:

Toll from Europe freeze tops 220

Temperatures plunged to new lows in Europe where a week-long cold snap has now claimed more than 220 lives and forecasters warned Friday that the big freeze would tighten its grip over the weekend.

A total of 223 people have died from the cold weather in the last seven days according to an AFP tally, with Ukraine suffering the heaviest toll.

In addition to the deaths, some...shall we say...interesting weather has occurred. For instance ice skates might become more useful than a gondola in Venice. And you might want to leave the toga home when you go to Rome.

In Italy, Venice's canals started freezing over and even Rome was dusted in snow.
...
Temperatures plunged to minus 35 Celsius in some areas of Poland.

In Bulgaria parts of the River Danube froze over

Snow Falls in Rome as Italy Is Hit by Cold Snap

A rare snowfall blanketed Rome on Friday, forcing the closure of the Colosseum over fears tourists would slip on the icy ruins, and leaving buses struggling to climb the city's slushy hills. Other parts of the country experienced frigid temperatures unseen in years.

Authorities stopped visitors from entering the Colosseum, the adjacent Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the former home of Rome's ancient emperors, although those already inside the ruins before thick flakes began coming down in late morning were allowed to finish their visits. The director of the ancient arena, Rossella Rea, said there was concern visitors could fall on ice.

The last substantial snowfall in Rome occurred in 1986, though lighter snowfalls have occasionally and briefly blanketed the city since, including in 2010.

Then there's the heating problem in the city...

Since the capital infrequently sees freezing temperatures, heating in homes is only allowed by law for about 10 hours a day, to cut down on pollution. The cold snap, with temperatures hovering at or just below the freezing point, meant Romans shivered in their homes, many with tile and marble floors.

The cold in Poland has halted the annual swim, too.

Deep freeze hits Poland's hardy lake swimmers

"In the interests of our participants' security, we've decided to call off this year's Bath of the Brave," Ireneusz Dzienisiewicz told Poland's PAP news agency.
...
But temperatures in northern Poland have plunged to minus 30 Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit), far below the minus 15 Celsius experienced by swimmers in 2010 during the coldest ever edition of the event.

On top of the risks to the swimmers, there were also practical reasons for cancelling the event.

"The water freezes so fast that we wouldn't be able to keep a large enough hole in the ice," said Dzienisiewicz.

Ho-hum. Nothing new here

2012-02-03T11:58:00.004-05:00

Seems ever year we get a report of something like this:
18-Mile Crack Seen by NASA in Antarctic Glacier

In the next few months, scientists expect the glacier to create an iceberg about 350 square miles in area. It will probably float northward, melting as it goes.

And at about this time of year, too. Problem is, the glaciers push out onto the sea, become unsupported from below and crack. Do they then float off as the article suggests? Sometimes. But just as often they refreeze when the Antarctic winter reappears. Which happens to be right around the corner.

ps Don't believe the tag line at the end of the article that says both poles are losing ice. Aint' happening.

Under "You can't make this stuff up"

2012-02-03T11:42:00.004-05:00

New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation got so many handwritten comments on hydrofracking, that one of its employees responsible for scanning them into digital form has suffered a shoulder injury. No. Really.

Hydrofracking comments present new problem: Scanning shoulder

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is conducting an ergonomic review of a temporary office for scanning and logging the tens of thousands of responses after an employees' union lodged a complaint last month.

A worker assigned to the "bullpen" -- as the office has been dubbed -- suffered a shoulder injury in January that the union suspects may have been caused by an inefficient setup, said Wayne Bayer, a DEC steward for the Public Employees Federation.

The complaint, Bayer said, led to a shutdown of the scanning for "a day or two" last month. The union claims the injury was likely caused by "improper equipment, improper level of the equipment" or the motion of repeatedly operating the scanners, he said.

Uh-oh!

2012-02-03T09:19:00.003-05:00

Okay. Here's the plot. Send a bunch of Russian scientists down to Antarctica to drill thousands of feet through the ice sheet to a lake far, far below the surface. A lake that last saw the light of day when all the land masses of earth formed Pangaea.

And, working under very harsh and rushed circumstances, just as they are poised to tap into that lake (call it "Lake Vostok") all contact with the team is lost. What happened? What did they release when they hit that pocket of very, very ancient water? Will they be found before the Antarctic winter rolls in once more?

It would make one heck of a movie. Except it is real.

Russian scientists seeking Lake Vostok lost in frozen 'Land of the Lost'?

Good questions.

Winter Sports

2012-02-02T19:00:00.004-05:00

With college football's National Signing Day over, there's a long, six-month wait until there's a game played. That would be somewhere near the end of August. A l-o-n-g time away.

Meanwhile there's the Super Bowl being played this Sunday. After that there's a l-o-n-g six month wait for a pro football game that means anything.

And Major League baseball doesn't start for real until around April 1. The Mets first game is April 5th, at home, against the Braves. (Spring training does start in February, but that's little more than a time to learn who's on the team.)

There's still things worth paying attention to, however. Saturday, February 4th is the start of the Yukon Quest sled dog race. This year's 1000-mile race starts in Fairbanks and ends in Whitehorse, BC. (They change the direction of the race each year.) You can follow the race through the official web site.

Coming a month before the Iditarod, the Yukon Quest often sees many of the same racers and their dogs. (Some dogs will be switched out between the two races as the teams suffer injuries or the mushers determine which dogs are better at the long distance.) The Quest hasn't got as big a name as the Iditarod and this will be just the 29th running of the Quest compared to the 40th running of Iditarod, but it is just as interesting to follow and has just as much adventure and danger.

The Iditarod itself begins on March 3rd and can be followed here. It's the World Series and Super Bowl of sled dog racing. Like the Quest, the top finishers should end up in Nome somewhere around 10 to 12 days after the race begins. And I'll be following both races from start to finish.

And Phil says...

2012-02-02T07:26:00.002-05:00

Oh well, Phil says it's shadows all the way down.

Six more weeks of winter.

Groundhog Day 2012

2012-02-01T20:03:00.003-05:00

The eNature Blog asks the question: How Can A Groundhog Predict The End Of Winter?

Thursday's forecast is for a bit of a shower--although the sky here at the Aerie is perfectly clear at 8 PM Wednesday.

At 7:20 AM EST Thursday, February 2nd at Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club will be broadcasting Phil's Prognostication. Here.

R U Rah! Rah!

2012-02-01T17:47:00.004-05:00

Today was National Signing Day for college football recruits and my Scarlet Knights succeeded in inking the best class in school history. ESPN ranks this Rutgers' class as the #25 class in the nation and better than any other Big East squad. MaxPreps says it's #23. Rivals has it as #23 and 247 has it as #22. Any way you slice it, when you consider the turmoil created by the departure of head coach Greg Schiano to take the same position with the NFL's Tampa Bay Bucs, this was one heck of an accomplishment.

Those recruits who were truly committed to the Rutgers' program and philosophy, as well as the assistant coaches and Athletic Director did a marvelous job in holding the group together.

As for the class' composition, it meets the teams needs. Six of the 20 in the incoming class are offensive linemen. One, is the #3 center in the nation. Two others are among the top 25 offensive tackles. One is an experienced transfer from Maryland. They are all very, very big guys who have been outstanding players in high school and should help revitalize a running game that has been missing since Ray Rice left to join the NFL Ravens.

Add defensive end Darius Hamilton, ranked by some to be among the top 10 players in the nation. (His Dad played 12 years with the New York Giants.) Sprinkle in a couple of wide receivers, several linebackers and a few exceptional athletes capable of playing on either side of the ball and you've got on heck of a promise.

I can't wait for the 2012 season to start.

Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven.

2012-01-31T18:17:00.003-05:00

FORREST GUMP GOES TO HEAVEN
This just came in over the ole email transom:

The day finally arrived. Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven.

He is at the Pearly Gates, met by Saint Peter himself. However, the gates are closed, and Forrest approaches the gatekeeper.

Saint Peter said, 'Well, Forrest, it is certainly good to see you. We have heard a lot about you. I must tell you, though, that the place is filling up fast, and we have been administering an entrance examination for everyone. The test is short, but you have to pass it before you can get into Heaven.'

Forrest responds, 'It sure is good to be here, Saint Peter, sir. But nobody ever told me about any entrance exam. I sure hope that the test ain't too hard. Life was a big enough test as it was.'

Saint Peter continued, 'Yes, I know, Forrest, but the test is only three questions.

First:
What two days of the week begin with the letter T?

Second:
How many seconds are there in a year?

Third:
What is God's first name?'

Forrest leaves to think the questions over.
He returns the next day and sees Saint Peter,
who waves him up, and says, 'Now that you have had a chance to think the questions over,tell me your answers.'

Forrest replied, 'Well, the first one -- which two days in the week begins with the letter 'T'? Shucks, that one is easy. That would be Today and Tomorrow . . .'

The Saint's eyes opened wide and he exclaimed, 'Forrest, that is not what I was thinking, but you do have a point, and I guess I did not specify, so I will give you credit for that answer. How about the next one?' asked Saint Peter.

'How many seconds in a year? Now that one is harder,' replied Forrest, 'but I thunk and thunk about that, and I guess the only answer can be twelve.'

Astounded, Saint Peter said, 'Twelve? Twelve? Forrest, how in Heaven's name could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?'

Forrest replied, 'Shucks, there's got to be twelve: January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd . . .'

'Hold it,' interrupts Saint Peter. 'I see where you are going with this, and
I see your point, though that was not quite what I had in mind . . . but I will have to give you credit for that one, too. Let us go on with the third and final question. Can you tell me God's first name'?

'Sure,' Forrest replied, 'it's Andy.'

'Andy?' exclaimed an exasperated and frustrated Saint Peter.

'OK, I can understand how you came up with your answers to my first two questions, but just how in the world did you come up with the name Andy as the first name of God?'

'Shucks, that was the easiest one of all,' Forrest replied. 'I learnt it from the song,
ANDY WALKS WITH ME,
ANDY TALKS WITH ME,
ANDY TELLS ME I AM HIS OWN.'

Saint Peter opened the Pearly Gates, and said: 'Run, Forrest, run.'

Lord, Give me a sense of humor.
Give me the ability to appreciate a clean joke,
To get some humor out of life,
And to pass it on to other folks!

Was that football?

2012-01-31T17:40:00.004-05:00

Were you one of the few who watched the Pro Bowl last Sunday?

The Pro Bowl is the NFL's all star game. A collection of the best players from around the league--minus those getting ready to play the Super Bowl or who are nursing injuries, that is.

It's also one of the most excruciating games to watch.

Most of the players are merely going through the motions. For some it's because they are not permitted to go at full speed. For example, defensive linemen can't put on a full rush and defensive backs can't play bump-and-run on the receivers. Watch for a few minutes and you'll see tackling effort about like you'd expect in flag football. (Perhaps that's why this year the final score was AFC 59, NFC 41. Actually quite surprising since quarterbacks and receivers have less than one week to get to know one another.)

And, hey!, why not? There's precious little incentive for the players beyond a week in Hawaii. And no one wants to sustain an injury that could potentially end their already short careers.

The NHL and NBA all star games aren't a heck of a lot better. I find these are saved only by the individual skills competitions that occur in the days BEFORE the game starts. That is, they are saved if you have any interest in the sport at all. I don't. Let's not even mention soccer.

The Major League Baseball All Star game is much more exciting and meaningful. At least there, the game does result in a benefit to one side or the other, what with the winning league having gained an advantage for the World Series. That and the fact that baseball is really a duel between the pitcher and the hitter. It's one on one; Mano y Mano.

Give me the MBL All Star game any day over whatever the heck it is they do in Hawaii in the week before the Super Bowl.

A New Coach at RU

2012-01-31T13:56:00.003-05:00

Today, Rutgers athletic directer Tim Pernetti introduced the 29th head football coach, Kyle Flood.

I just watched the press conference and am suitably impressed by the former offensive line coach who seemed to say all the right things. Rutgers is NOT a program that is in need of rebuilding. It IS one of strong academics and improved performance on the football field.

The Scarlet Knights went to five bowl games in the last six years and won them all. They were not the top tier bowl games to be sure, but no other college football team can boast a current bowl winning streak of greater length. In his comments and answers, AD Pernetti and Coach Flood seemed to acknowledge this saying the vision of the program will not change.

One humorous moment that made me smile came when a reporter from the Newark Star Ledger asked Coach Flood about the status of two big name New Jersey recruits who, I believe, have not committed to any school yet. Coach Flood's response went something like this: "Per NCAA rules, I am not permitted to comment on their status. However I am looking forward to doing so tomorrow." Tomorrow is National Signing Day. Could it be that the recruiting class will be even better than originally thought?

I'll be following the signings tomorrow as they begin at 2 PM. Could get interesting.

OMG!

2012-01-31T13:11:00.001-05:00

I think my arteries just clogged as I read this: The Super Bowl of bacon

But I don't care! It's BACON!

Included:

Bacon Streusel Maple Cream Cheese Cupcakes.
Jalapeños stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon.
Halftime Chili Is Better With Bacon, Whiskey …

...with links to the recipes and more!

About that cold....

2012-01-31T08:26:00.003-05:00

It has begun...

BRITAIN COLDER THAN ICELAND: NEW ALERT AS TEMPERATURES PLUNGE TO -11C

Okay, it's not 80 F below zero, but for those in the British Isles, it's pretty cold. And snowy!

I wonder what the temps are in East Anglia?

So close!

2012-01-30T19:11:00.003-05:00

More about cold from Watt's Up With That

Bitter cold records broken in Alaska - all time coldest record nearly broken, but Murphy’s Law intervenes

Jim River, AK closed in on the all time record coldest temperature of -80°F set in 1971, which is not only the Alaska all-time record, but the record for the entire United States. Unfortunately, it seems the battery died in the weather station just at the critical moment.

Yep. When the temperature reached -79 degrees F at 18:34 on January 28th. Surely it got below -80 degrees F. No?

According to Anthony, the electronic weather station used at Jim River is built to operate at temperatures from -40 to 150 degrees F. The lithium batteries used to backup the solar power used during the day also is built to operate from -40 to 150 degrees F. Not sure if we can blame Murphy for this or not. Seems more like a SNAFU.

From the "Let's Hope They're Wrong" Department

2012-01-30T10:21:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I linked to an article from the UK Daily Mail about the low output of the sun and how this may be a harbinger of global cooling. (Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to worry about)

Today, Anthony Watts of Watt's Up With That posted his take and concludes:

Nature (the reality, not the journal) will be the final arbiter of truth in this. We live in interesting times.

The last sentence is sometimes considered a curse.

Anthony has lots of interesting additional graphs that point to an "Oh. My. God!" scenario. Go take a look.

Might be time to rethink the baseball season that runs into November.

Just saying.

Uh-oh!

2012-01-29T10:44:00.004-05:00

Fro those in the lower 48 who are bemoaning the mild winter we have been enjoying (so far!), there is this cautionary tale from the UK Daily Mail :

Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to worry about (and if NASA scientists are right the Thames will be freezing over again)

The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.

The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.

***

According to a paper issued last week by the Met Office, there is a 92 per cent chance that both Cycle 25 and those taking place in the following decades will be as weak as, or weaker than, the ‘Dalton minimum’ of 1790 to 1830. In this period, named after the meteorologist John Dalton, average temperatures in parts of Europe fell by 2C.

However, it is also possible that the new solar energy slump could be as deep as the ‘Maunder minimum’ (after astronomer Edward Maunder), between 1645 and 1715 in the coldest part of the ‘Little Ice Age’ when, as well as the Thames frost fairs, the canals of Holland froze solid.

Can you say "Hans Brinker"?

This is NOT the Climate Change we were looking for.

Go on and read the whole thing, as they say, but have a warm drink handy while you do.

Tough Time on the Banks

2012-01-26T18:31:00.003-05:00

A soggy, wet, rainy day here at the Aerie. We had 1/2 inch of snow overnight but then the temperature rose above freezing and we got light rain all day which melted virtually all the snow that fell. We're supposed to get lots more rain tonight and tomorrow. The wind is coming out of the south-southwest and the moisture has been streaming up out of the Gulf along with (slightly) warmer temperatures.

******

Lots of news out of Rutgers today. Coach Greg Schiano has signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to be their new head coach. At age 45 it's an opportunity that's pretty damn hard to pass up.

The move leaves RU in a bind, however. National signing day for new recruits is February 1, just six days from now, and the loss of a head coach will throw a monkey wrench into the works. RU was about to have one of it's best recruiting classes ever and had been penciled in by some to start the 2012 season in the Top 25 with excellent chances of winning the Big East next year.

Hopefully the young men who have made verbal commitments to the Rutgers squad will stick with those commitments and join the Scarlet Knights. A good deal of that depends upon who Athletic Director Tim Pernetti gets to replace Coach Schiano. For the time being Pernetti has designate offensive line coach Kyle Flood as the interim coach but Pernetti hopes to have a new head Coach before next Wednesday's national signing day. (More here from ESPN's Andrea Adelson.)

Schiano did a great job in the 11 years he was at Rutgers and it seemed like he would stay forever. But, there are only 32 men that can call themselves "Head Coach" on the NFL level and it's tough to pass on a job offer like that.

Aerie Weather Report, January 23, 2012

2012-01-23T13:44:00.005-05:00

Windy. Rainy. Dreary. But WARMING Monday here at the Aerie. Snow is melting like crazy creating a dense fog directly overhead and down into the valley.

Our low temp was at 12:01 AM this morning and it's been climbing ever since and is currently into the low 40s. This won't last long, but, by melting some snow now, it'll lessen the chance of spring thaw flooding. And after last September, that's a good thing.

The same thing is happening up near the Bolt Hole, too. And that is also a good thing for the Mohawk Valley residents.

Done

2012-01-21T12:54:00.002-05:00

It took two hours of walking behind the snow thrower to get the job finished, but the driveway is now clear. I'll have to go back and clean the end of the driveway once the snow plow makes its appearance, but that's a minor problem.

The only difficulty I had was having to unlodge one stone that wedged the impeller and stopped the machine early on when it was still a STONE thrower and not a SNOW thrower. An adjustment to the skids raised the front just enough to put a halt to that.

The temperature hasn't risen much as it sits at 20-22 degrees. And there's still no breeze blowing. The clouds don't look to be leaving anytime soon so our chances of seeing any Northern Lights isn't looking good.

Aerie Snow Report, January 21, 2012

2012-01-21T09:49:00.003-05:00

As the snow finished falling this morning, Terry baked up a batch of scones for breakfast. Nothing like warm scones spread with cold, melting butter and accompanied by a glass of cold milk.

I can believe we dodged the heaviest of the stuff. This was a narrow (about 150 miles wide) band of precipitation that streamed in from the west from Chicago and through Pennsylvania before hooking northward at the coast. Originally we in the Northern Tier were to be pretty close to the center of this stream but it shifted south and we ended up on the northern shore. Still, we have about 4 inches of very fine, very light, white powder on the ground. With the southward shift, the temperature remained cold enough (mid teens) that the flakes stayed very, very small.

Being as it's only 4 inches deep--and very light and powdery to boot--I'll be firing up the snow thrower instead of the tractor. At least initially. There's no breeze to speak of so blowing the snow where I want without getting a face full in return shouldn't be a problem.

******

Temps are supposed to rise into the 40s this week with some rain in the middle of the week. If I can get the snow down close to the bare minimum, it should disappear from the driveway. Again.

******

We're sorta hoping for the sky to clear before dark. The solar storm of a day ago should hit the Earth tonight and there's a possibility of the Aurora being visible even this far south. Being on the northwest side of the hill with a 20+ mile view has some benefits and we're hoping to cash in on this one.

******

Well, I've recycled by second (or was it fourth?) cup of coffee. Guess it's time to put on the boots and get to work.

Aerie Report, January 20, 2012

2012-01-20T16:58:00.003-05:00

After a breezy day yesterday capped by about a half inch of very fine powdery snow, we're enjoying a lovely day here at the Aerie that could best be classified as "the calm before the storm." It's cold (high of 22 degrees and morning low of just 8) but quite still (absolutely no wind for most of the day) so we get what the thermometer says we got. The sun was out for most of the day and disappeared behind the thickening clouds well past mid afternoon.

The weather guys are saying there's snow on the way, however. How much is still in question. One forecaster says 3 to 6 another says 4 to 8 is a possibility. All agree that it will start late this evening--around 9 PM--and continue through the night and Saturday's morning hours.

In preparation, I took some time yesterday to replenish the stack of firewood in the garage. Today, I went down to fill the Tundra's gas tank and refilled one can with regular gas for the snow thrower and another with diesel for the tractor should those beasts be needed.

Earlier in the week we had about 2 inches of snow which was blown and drifted hither and yon. In spots it was nearly 4 inches deep and in others it was blown away enough to expose the larger stones in the gravel driveway. I went out and shoveled it anyway since the temperatures this week have been consistently below freezing. Once the snow was removed, the sun did warm the gravel enough to cause the rest to melt. That or the dry air caused it to sublimate. Whatever. It disappeared so last night's half inch--and the attendant drift--is all that's out there.

No plans to go anywhere tomorrow as we wait the end of the snowfall to begin our cleanup.

Aerie Report, Morning, January 18, 2012

2012-01-18T09:08:00.004-05:00

The temperatures rose all of yesterday and even through the early evening hours. It reached 47 degrees at one point before the cold front moved through, the wind shifted and the temperature began to fall once more. It's just 22 degrees as I type.

And what a front it was, too! Long (stretching from east of Lake Ontario to West Virginia) and skinny (only a narrow band of clouds about 50 miles wide along the front), it swept through within a matter of minutes and brought some howling gales and gusts. (Elmira area had a report of a 60 mph gust around 11:30 last night.)

Today we've got some lake effect snow showers off lakes Ere and Ontario to contend with, although the bulk of those will be to the north of us and a smidge closer to the shorelines.

******

Since we moved into the Aerie in December of 2006, the intervening winters have seen us pretty much nibbled to death by ducks--that is suffering from frequent small snow storms of 3-4 inches--from November through January. With a few exceptions, the months of February and March--even early April--are when we get the "big ones."

I prefer to shovel when the snow is 4-6 inches or less, use the snow thrower for 5-8 inches and then the tractor for anything more. So far this year, I've had to shovel snow just twice. The snow thrower and tractor are getting dusty.

And even the shoveling may have been unnecessary since we had 40 degree (or more) days not long after that melted everything I didn't/couldn't shovel. Today there's only a tiny bit of snow where the winds drifted it to a depth of three or four inches and where the sun didn't get to it--yet.

******

Yesterday was the DIL's 28th birthday. She and her pup spent the evening alone in their Portland, Oregon home as my son was out in Yakima, Washington for work.

He's an inspecting forester for the power company making sure tree work and right-of-way clearing is done correctly. With the forecast for one heck of a snow storm in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains (which stretch across his path from Yakima back to Portland) I hope he drives safely--and that includes knowing when NOT to drive. Even so, if tree limbs give way under the weight of snow, he could be busy, busy, busy!

Stay safe kids!

Some thoughts while driving

2012-01-17T15:21:00.003-05:00

I took the Tundra over to Athens and Williams Toyota this morning to get the oil changed and have a X-points inspection done. I could have just as easily gone down the hill to Mansfield Exxon, but this was an excuse to get out of the house for a while and I like the folks over at Williams. (I like Ryan at Mansfield Exxon too. He get to work on the Aveo and occasionally the Tundra. I'll see him in the spring when I need to get new tires.)

This is a 100-mile round trip and I had time to do some thinking.

First, I was pleased as punch that the temperature rose from the 31 degrees at the Aerie to 36-37 degrees along Route 6. That meant that the little bit of sprinkle that was falling stayed liquid instead of becoming black ice. (It also meant that the extra half hour I allotted for the trip was unnecessary, but I'd rather be early than in the ditch.)

Second, I'm happy there is a Mickey D's in Troy. Hot coffee and an egg and sausage McMuffin early on a cold, damp morning is a fine thing.

Third, this being a 100-mile round trip I couldn't help but think of how things have changed in a little over 100 years. In 1900, it would have been a two-three day trip just to get to Athens (50 miles) on horseback or in a wagon. Call it four to six days round trip. As it was it took me a little over three hours round trip INCLUDING a one hour period while I waited for the mechanic to do his job.

Fourth, the all electric vehicles being promoted by our wonderful government, having a range of about 40 miles on a charge, would not have even gotten me to Athens before needing to be plugged in. Given the charging time, a trip to Athens and back in a Volt would have taken me three days or more. Back to the future, indeed.

Fifth, those thoughts about the Volt's range (about 40 miles per charge) made me think about the commute of the average American. (Or at least those I know in Northern New Jersey.) While many of the teachers I worked with lived in close proximity (10 miles or so) of the school, some came from 30 to 50 miles away. (A few commuted from Pennsylvania to Parsippany because the taxes in New Jersey were so high. One of these also taught nights twice a week in Jersey City. He really racked up the miles!) Then there were other folks who worked in Manhattan yet lived out along the I-80 or I-78 corridors some 50 or more miles from the city. Some took the train or bus, but an awfully large number did not because public transit was inconvenient. The point is, there are lots of folks who could not even use the Volt to commute from the suburbs because of its limited range. So what, exactly, is supposed to be the Volt's niche?

It can't be to save CO2 emissions. You need electricity to charge the bloody thing and in today's world that's probably provided by coal or natural gas. (Or nuclear, I suppose.) Mining or drilling for the source of energy to yield the electricity or for the materials to build the light weight chassis and heavy metal batteries would create as big a carbon footprint as my Tundra.

The Volt must have been a project dreamed up while on drugs, planned by committee, and executed by a government run bureaucracy (or a union--same thing). Even with the generous, taxpayer provided rebates, it's a lemon of a vehicle no one wants. It makes the Ford Edsel look like a dream car with excellent sales numbers.

It's Friday the 13th...

2012-01-13T07:57:00.002-05:00

...so perhaps it's right and proper that we be cursed/blessed with the return of winter weather.

With the wind out of the south as it had been much of the day, it started raining hard again last night after 9 PM when the temperature was still 40 degrees. It continued raining heavily on through 2 AM this morning (temp still 40 degrees) but changed to snow shortly thereafter when the wind shifted around to come from the west-northwest and the temperatures nosedived.

It got down to 23 degrees at 7 AM by which time there was a coating of snow everywhere. How much is difficult to determine as it is snowing sideways and the stuff is being swept clean from some surfaces and drifting on the leeward side of any obstacle.

The weather advisory is calling for 2-3 inches of snow in the "northern and western mountains...especially the higher elevations." With the Aerie in the Northern Tier at 2100' elevation, I guess that's us.

This just in!

2012-01-12T13:26:00.002-05:00

The LSU football team is stuck in New Orleans.
Someone painted a fifty yard line in front of their bus.

******

West Virginia just scored. Again.

Bowl Game Summary

2012-01-11T19:38:00.003-05:00

All the bowl game, including the national championship game, have been played. So how did each of the conferences in the FCS level do.

First, there were two independent teams in the bowls (BYU and Notre Dame). BYU won its game. ND did not. so the independents went 1-1 or 50%.

Of the conferences with automatic qualifiers in BCS bowls:

The ACC had eight teams in bowls. They won just two, a 25% record.
The Big 12 also had eight teams in bowl games and won six of them, a 75% record.
The Big East had just five teams in bowl games (smallest of the conferences) and won three of them, a 60% record.
The Big Ten had a whopping 10 teams in bowl games (over 83% of their members) and won five of them, a 50% record.
The PAC-12 had seven bowl teams and won just two, a 28.6% record.
The SEC had nine teams in bowl games and won six, a 66.7% record.

All six AQ conferences ended with a 24-23 record.

******

As to those conferences that do not have an automatic qualification with a BCS bowl:

C-USA had five bowl teams and won four games (80%)
The MAC had five bowl teams and won four (80%)
The MtnWest also had five bowl teams and won two (40%)
The Sun Belt had three bowl teams, winning one (33.3%)
WAC had three bowl teams and won none (0%)

These conferences went 11-10 in their bowl appearance.

******

Granted, the level of competition was quite varied, but I thought the powers that be did a pretty fine job in matching competitors and providing entertaining games.

Have you seen this...

2012-01-11T16:50:00.003-05:00

...piece of head scratching idiocy?

EPA Fines Companies Because They Didn’t Use A Fuel That Doesn’t Exist

John Hayward has a look at...

The Orwellian nightmare of running a business in the shadow of the Obama Administration is nicely captured in this story from the New York Times, which explains why motor fuel companies are about to be fined $6.8 million for failure to use a biofuel that does not exist:

Yeah. Makes perfect sense. Fine them for using something that does not exist because the 2007 law says they must use it or be fined. And, since they are using so little of it this year, next year they must use even more! Or be fined even more!

These fines will, of course, be passed on to the consumer upping the price of fuel.

As John Hayward says in his subtitle for this article: "Gosh, it’s tough to figure out why that recovery is stalled."

Here's hoping this puts the offense on the offense.

2012-01-11T15:08:00.002-05:00

At first I thought it said "Tony Soprano" which would have been alright by me. Capice? After all, Soprano's a Jersey guy. Would have ended any discord in the huddle right quick, too.

But Saprano could be a good hire, too.

Jets hire Tony Sparano as offensive coordinator

Still think that Soprano would have put the fear of God into Sanchez and the O-line, forcing them to step up their game.

I blame Mayor Bloomberg and Michelle Obama!

2012-01-10T19:00:00.003-05:00

Twinkies Maker Preparing for Chapter 11 Filing

Hostess Brands Inc. is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, said people familiar with the matter, a move that would mark the second significant court restructuring for the Twinkies and Wonder Bread baker in the past several years.

Hostess Brands is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection. Shira Ovide joins Markets Hub to discuss a brief history of the company that gave the world Twinkies and Wonder Bread.

The privately held Irving, Texas, company, which employs roughly 19,000 people and carries more than $860 million in debt, has been facing a cash squeeze amid high labor costs and rising prices for sugar, flour and other ingredients, according to people familiar with the matter. Those costs together have proved higher than the company's roughly $2.5 billion in annual sales, creating losses and cash shortfalls, the people said.

More jobs heading down the drain. This is the second time Hostess has been in bankruptcy. They reorganized between 2004 and 2008, emerged from bankruptcy in 2008 but are heading back to Chapter 11 in 2012. Why?

Once in bankruptcy court, Hostess will try to reduce debt and renegotiate labor contracts, many of them with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, the people said. Hostess plans to file court papers soon threatening to reject or modify labor contracts under applicable bankruptcy rules, the people said. Such moves provide troubled companies a bargaining chip to try and get concessions from unionized workers.

A Teamsters spokesman declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Hostess's other main union didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
....
One sticking point for the baker: It pays about $100 million a year into so-called multi-employer pension plans that cover workers at a wide array of companies, the people said. Hostess, whose pension plan is underfunded by about $2 billion, wants to rescind its obligations to that plan and start paying into a plan that only covers its own workers, one of the people said.

Overall, Hostess carries hundreds of separate labor contracts that the company believes impose cost burdens, people familiar with the matter said; the company also wants to reduce benefits costs.

Aaah. Unions.Pensions. Anchors.

Then there's the Nanny State/Health Food Crazed:

Sales of Hostess's signature Twinkies have recently declined a bit while the overall bakery snacks category has been about flat. Nearly 36 million packages of Twinkies were sold in the year ended Dec. 25, down almost 2% from a year earlier, according to data from SymphonyIRI Group, a Chicago-based market-research firm. The data captures sales from supermarkets, drugstores, mass-market retailers and convenience stores, but exclude sales from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and club stores.

Hostess also has had trouble attracting consumers who have migrated away from white bread to whole grains and other healthier foods. Hostess released a whole-grain bread called Nature's Pride, but it hasn't sold well compared with some rivals amid a small presence on shelves, according to Mitchell Pinheiro, a Janney Montgomery Scott analyst. Still, Nature's Pride's overall sales have ticked up, increasing 12.3% over the past year or so, said a Hostess spokesman.

Ooops!

2012-01-10T09:22:00.003-05:00

I erroneously said: "This game will not depend upon field goals."

In reality, Alabama place kicker Jordan Shelley made five of his seven attempts (one got blocked and one was wide right) and it looked like that was all the scoring there was going to be until Trent Richardson bounced outside and scampered 34 yards with 4:36 remaining in the game for the lone touchdown.

******

I was going to skip watching this game but got caught up in the overwhelming defense that Alabama played. Swarmed under, one might say, like the LSU offense. It was an impressive team performance the likes of which one just has to admire. To give up just 92 yards net offense...amazing!

And for a team (Alabama) to commit just one penalty. Off sides on a fourth and 14 play. In the final two minutes of the game. That too is amazing.

Alabama 21, LSU 0

2012-01-10T08:34:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to Alabama on their dominating 21-0 victory over the LSU Tigers. The Tide defense swamped LSU, miring the Tigers in their own territory all night.
How dominant was the Alabama defense?

This was the first National Championship game to end in a shutout.
‘Bama’s defense held LSU to just 44 plays, five first downs, and 92 yards net offense.
It wasn’t until there were 8 minutes left in the game that LSU’s Jordan Jefferson managed to squirt across the 50-yard line for the first time. In the next four plays LSU lost yardage on the first three and the ball on the fourth.
Each team possessed the ball 11 times. LSU’s 11 possessions ended with nine punts, one lost fumble and one interception.

In contrast, Alabama’s eleven possessions ended with just three punts, seven field goal attempts and one touchdown (with 4:36 left in the game). Not great, but more than enough.

A.J. McCarron did just enough to get the Alabama place kicker, Jordan Shelley, closer to the end zone this time around. McCarron completed 23 of 34 passes for 234 yards. Trent Richardson carried the ball 20 times for 96 yards and a 34-yard TD while teammate Eddie Lacy rushed 11 times for 43 yards. Alabama ended the night with 384 net yards on offense.

Alabama used just one place kicker this time and Jordan Shelley converted on five of seven field goal attempts. He connected from 23, 34, 41, 35, and 44 yards out. The latter was a career best. (During the first meeting, Shelley and Cade Foster missed four field goals—all 44-yards or longer.) He also had one attempt blocked and pushed one j-u-s-t to the right of the uprights. Just to make things interesting—and slightly comical—Shelley dinked the attempted extra point off the right upright after Richardson’s TD run in the fourth quarter.

******

One thing marred the viewing of this game for me: Brent Musburger. Something about his voice and intonation just drives me wild. Perhaps it's the "I'm smarter than you, folks" implication in the way he talks. The fact he kept using the nickname “Honey Badger” instead of Tyrann Mathieu’s name while calling plays was just salt on the cake. Mentioning a nickname is one thing, but to constantly use it during play-by-play is amateurish.

(On a side note, perhaps if the Honey Badger gave a shit LSU might have looked better last night. As it was, those camera shots of the dead-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights stare shared by all the LSU players but especially of the "Honey Badger" late in the game were a clear indication of just how dominating Alabama's play was.)

And pairing Musberger up with Kirk Herbstreit….I don’t know. Herbstreit occasionally brings something positive to the table (Last night he pointed out that Alabama had permitted only 9 touchdowns all year; fewer than were scored by West Virginia against Clemson in the Orange Bowl.), but his voice just doesn’t have the right timbre to appeal to be. He’s that whiny fan down the end of the bar.

NIU 38, Arkansas State 20

2012-01-09T07:33:00.005-05:00

Got this one right.

The Huskies of Northern Illinois came form a 13-0 deficit to defeat the Arkansas State Red Wolves 38-20. (I said they'd win 38-27.)

Huskies' quarterback Chandler Harnish got his ankle rolled up and missed a series early in the second quarter but his replacement, Jordan Lynch, lead Northern Illinois on a 7-play, 78-yard drive capped by his 3-yard TD run to give the MAC team the lead. Lynch was just 4 for 4 for 64 yards on that drive.

Harnish returned but didn't run for the remainder of the game. No matter. He completed 18 of 36 passes for 274 yards. He had two TD passes of his own and set up Jamal Womble for a 1-yard TD run just before halftime.

The Red Devils kept shooting themselves in the foot. Three interceptions (the final being returned by Dechane Durante 36 yards for a TD giving N. Illinois the 38-20 final score) and two lost fumbles as well as missed opportunities kept them in the hole all night.

Ryan Aplin did complete 30 of 58 for 353 yards and a TD and he did rush for a second score, but his three INTs and inability to keep drives going early in the first quarter may have cost the Red Wolves the game.

******

Now there's only one Bowl Game remaining: The National Championship out of Louisiana pits #1 LSU against #2 Alabama.

My gut feeling is that Alabama remembers the missed chances of their meeting earlier this season (three missed field goals? Or was it four?) and, with the elephant as their mascot, they will not forget.

This game will not depend upon field goals.

The Tide affects Baton Rouge like a Cat 4's storm surge.

Alabama 28, LSU 14.

At the Aerie...

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

Every morning at 6 AM...

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

UN-FREAKIN'-BELIEVABLE!

2012-01-08T20:10:00.004-05:00

Denver beats Pittsburgh in OT: 29-23

The kid they said could throw the ball in the NFL.

All he does is go 10 of 21 for 316 yards. Passes of 40, 52, 58 and 30 for a TD and 80 for the winning TD.

WR Demaryius Thomas caught four of those ten completions including the 52, 58 and 80 yarders for 204 total yards and the winning TD.

One hell of a performance by both Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas!

The Broncos move on to face New England next weekend.

******

Oh, and the Giants beat the stuffing out of Atlanta 24-2 in the early game.

GoDaddy.com Bowl

2012-01-08T08:00:00.001-05:00

The GoDaddy.com Bowl Game being played this evening features the Arkansas State Red Wolves (10-2, 8-0, 1st in the Sun Belt Conference) and the Northern Illinois Huskies (10-3, 8-1, 1st in the Mid American Conference West).

The Red Wolves have the 18th ranked pass offense and 13th ranked rushing defense in the nation. They have limited opponents to less than 20 points per game. Arkansas State has won 9 in a row. Ryan Alpin has passed for 3235 yards and 18 TDs this year, but he’s also tossed 13 INTs.

The Huskies are 8th in the nation in rushing offense and have scored 40 or more points in 9 of their 12 games and they won three of those in which they did not score 40 points. Northern Illinois has won 8 in a row at the end of the season. Chandler Harnish has thrown for 26 TDs while allowing on ly 5 INTs. He’s also rushed for nearly 1400 yards this year.

One factor that might play a role in this game is the coaching merry-go-round that seems to affect so many teams this year. Arkansas State’s head coach Hugh Freeze has taken the head man’s job at Mississippi. As a result, the Red Wolves will be playing under assistant coach David Gunn. (Former Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn was named Arkansas State's next coach and will take the reins after this game is over.)

The line on this game has Northern Illinois favored by 1.5 points and an o/u of 63 points.

Two of those low scoring games by Northern Illinois came at the tail end of the season, but they won both: E. Michigan 18-12, Ohio 23-20.

Look for the Huskies to defeat the Red Wolves 38-27 with the help of a couple of turnovers.

SMU 28 - Pitt 6

2012-01-07T20:26:00.001-05:00

Got another prediction wrong.

The Southern Methodist Mustangs routed the Pittsburgh Panthers Saturday afternoon in the BBVA Compass Bowl by a score of 28-6.

J.J. McDermott opened the scoring with a 50 yard TD pass to Darius Johnson early in the first quarter, ran one yard for the next TD, and then Rishaad Wimbley scored the first of his two rushing TDs…still in the first quarter. And the Mustangs led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.

After that it was strong defense on the part of SMU that sacked, rushed and limited Pitt’s Tino Sunseri. By the time Sunseri was pulled late in the fourth quarter, he had just 33 yards on 13 carries and had completed just 19 of 28 passes for 183 yards and one INT. Pittsburgh was limited to just two Kevin Harper field goals.

Pitt’s defense didn’t do too poorly after that first quarter either. The Panthers limited SMU to just 61 yards on the ground. McDermott did complete 16 of 25 passes for 238 yards, however 100+ of that came in the first quarter.

SMU leads...

2012-01-07T13:48:00.002-05:00

...21-0 after the first quarter.

Guess I picked the wrong team in this game, too.

BBVA Compass Bowl

2012-01-07T09:00:00.004-05:00

The BBVA Compass Bowl pits a current Big East team (Pittsburgh) against a future Big East team (Southern Methodist). Kickoff will be at 1 PM on ESPN

Pittsburgh (6-6, 4-3, 4th Big East) saw it's head coach, Todd Graham, leave for Arizona State immediately after the season and will be playing under the guidance of their interim coach and defensive coordinator Keith Patterson, who will himself be hitting the road for Arkansas State next week. (Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst will become the Panthers' new head coach.) Some might see this as a distraction, but to the Pitt players it's more like deja vu. They played in the same bowl, under the same conditions (vis-a-vis coaching changes) last year. (Pitt beat Kentucky 27-10 in that game.)

A bigger problem for Pitt is the loss of their premier running back Ray Graham. With Graham out more of the offensive burden will fall on the shoulders--and arm--of quarterback Tino Sunseri. And Pitt hasn't been that great at protecting their quarterback this year. The Panthers are last in the nation with its 56 sacks allowed, 4.75 per game.

SMU (7-5, 5-3, 3rd in the West Division of C-USA) has been something of a self stopper this season. Quarterback J.J. McDermott has thrown for 3182 yards and 16 TDs and Zach Line has rushed for 1224 yards and scored 17 TDs, but McDermott has also thrown 16 interceptions and the Mustangs have turned the ball over a total of 31 times...a stat that puts them last in the nation in that category.

[UPDATE: I didn't realize that Zach Line was also out for this game with an injury. That should hamper SMU a bit and put even more pressure on McDermott to produce and Pitt's defense to shut down the passing game.]

Not sure how either offense will play out today, but the defenses should be licking their chops.

Look for a slightly simpler offense from Pittsburgh from the spread that Todd Graham was trying to implement. The Panther defense will come through.

Pittsburgh 24, SMU 17

Cotton Bowl

2012-01-07T08:49:00.003-05:00

The Razorbacks held Kansas State to just 87 yards rushing on Friday night. Kansas State had been averaging 185.5 yards per game.

That and a pair of Tyler Wilson TD passes and a 51 yard punt return for a TD by Joe Adams was sufficient for Arkansas to emerge with a 29-16 victory.

Cotton Bowl: #7 Arkansas vs #11 Kansas State

2012-01-06T08:04:00.004-05:00

Cotton Bowl out of Dallas, Texas:
#7 Arkansas (10-2, 6-2, 3rd in the SEC West) vs. #11 Kansas State (10-2, 7-2, 2nd in the Big 12)

This is not a BCS Bowl...but it should be. It's got the history and it's got two of the best teams in the nation squaring off against one another.

Arkansas is not in a BCS Bowl game because it's in the SEC West along with Alabama and LSU. That's the only way you end up third in your conference division with just two losses. And Kansas State is second in the Big 12 behind #3 Oklahoma State to whom it lost 52-45 in the regular season and the Big 12 has no conference championship game in which the Wildcats could seek revenge.

Arkansas’ two losses this year came at the hands of Alabama (38-14) in the fourth week of September and of LSU (41-17) in the final game of the regular season. Kansas State’s two losses came in back to back games to Oklahoma (58-17) and Oklahoma State (52-45) in games 8 and 9. KState then finished the season with three consecutive victories.

Arkansas Junior Tyler Wilson passed for 3422 yards and 22 touchdowns with only 6 interceptions. The Razorbacks were 13th in passing offense and 23rd overall. On defense they were ranked 50th in the nation--24th passing defense, 75th against the rush.

Junior quarterback Collin Klein led the Wildcats with 1745 yards and 12 touchdowns passing while tossing only 5 interceptions. He also had 1099 yards rushing for 26 touchdowns. Even so, Kansas State ranked only 91st in the nation on offense, 105th in passing. On defense they were 33rd against the rush and 99th against the pass for a total of 70th overall.

Summation: Arkansas has a rushing defense that the Wildcats can exploit. The Wildcats pass defense is itself exploitable. So, the outcome of this game will be how well Wilson can pass versus how well Klein can run, and which defense stiffens up against its weaknesses and which team can win the turnovers.

This will be a close game. Klein and the Wildcats will come through, however. Kansas State wins 31-27

70-33 Yipes!

2012-01-05T09:31:00.004-05:00

"...WVA just doesn't have the man-power to beat the Tigers."

Boy! When I'm wrong, I'm really, really wrong!

A week ago Baylor set a record for most points scored in a bowl game when they put up 67 points in the Alamo Bowl. That record didn't even last a week when West Virginia put up 70 in the Orange Bowl against Clemson last night.

Gino Smith got the MVP and was credited with throwing for 401 yards and six (!) touchdowns, but he should at least share that award with Tevon Austin who caught four of those "passes" for TDs. Three of them were not much more than little flips forward--almost like a basketball give-and-go--as wide receiver Austin sped across the field between the center and Smith. Austin's speed and ability to tight-rope walk his way down the sidelines turned even the shortest "toss" in to a long TD pass.

Austin's TDs came on plays of 8, 27, 3, and 37 yards. In addition, Geno Smith hit Stedman Bailey for a 6-yard score and Willie Milhouse for a 7-yard TD. Smith used his legs to score on a 7 yard run. And Shawne Alston acrossed the line twice as he carried the ball 20 times for 77 yards.

But the play that turned the game around--and was the second longest scoring play in Orange Bowl history--was made by Mountaineer safety Darwin Cook. With Clemson trailing 21-20 in the second quarter, Andre Ellington--who had started the games scoring with a 68 yard run--drove into a pile at the goal line as he attempted to put the Tigers back in the lead. The ball popped loose, however and boiled to the top of the scrum. Cook snatched the ball and, not hearing any whistles, took off for the other end of the field while many Clemson players stood around the heap signalling touchdown. Ninety-nine yards later it was a touchdown--for West Virginia.

The extra point made it 28-20, but that too was ephemeral. Two quick turnovers by Tahj Boyd (Clemson had four on the night), a couple of quick strikes by Smith and crew and it was 49-20 at halftime. (That too was a record: highest score by a single team and by two teams in a half.)

Watching this game was like watching a train wreck: the carnage as Clemson was destroyed on defense was a horrible sight, but you just couldn't stop watching for fear of missing a spectacular play by someone--anyone--on the West Virginia side of the ball.

Good thing there are no bowl games tonight. I need to catch my breath after this one.

Now, about those critics who keep calling it the Big Least...West Virginia was just 5-2 in conference. Please explain.

Orange Bowl:

2012-01-04T09:16:00.002-05:00

#23 West Virginia (9-3, 5-2, 1st in the Big East) vs. #14 Clemson (10-3, 7-2, 1st ACC Atlantic Division, ACC Champions)

With freshman running back Dustin Garrison out due to a knee injury, junior Shawne Alston will have to step up his play. That might mean Geno Smith will need to kick up his game, too. If he does…well, look out Clemson! With Smith at the controls, West Virginia brings the nation’s #7 pass offense into Sun Life Stadium for the Orange Bowl. The Mountaineers average 341.8 yards per game while throwing the ball. Smith has throw 25 TD passes while giving up only 7 INTs.

Clemson has Tajh Boyd at QB and he’s no slouch either. Boyd has thrown for 31 TDs this year while tossing only 10 INTs. The Tigers are 21st in the nation in passing offense averaging 284.8 ypg.

Both teams are strong on pass defense (WVA is 28th in the nation while Clemson is 32nd).

Clemson is 56th in the nation in rush offense with 155.8 ypg while West Virginia is only 93rd with 117.8 ypg.

On rush defense it’s the opposite. WVA is the better of the two yielding just 140.8 ypg and ranking 46th in the nation as compared to Clemson giving up 176.5 ypg in 77th place.

Clemson was powering along on cruise control until the last week in October. They then lost three out of four games—all road games—to Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, and South Carolina before defeating Virginia Tech—for the second time in the season— in the ACC Championship game.

Clemson has used the time since December 3rd to get healthy--which is bad news for West Virginia.

I may be a Big East fan, and I truly hope West Virginia can prove me wrong, but I’ve little love for the Mountaineers in this game. With the injuries they've suffered, WVA just doesn't have the man-power to beat the Tigers.

Clemson 38, WVA 24

Sugar Bowl: Michigan 23, Virginia Tech 20 in OT

2012-01-04T09:10:00.002-05:00

What an ugly game. Truly ugly. Raises the question as to why either team was here.

Neither seemed to want to win it. Neither team played up to their hype. Both made errors galore. Some even started long before kickoff.

Virginia Tech’s starting field goal kicker got arrested for B & E and was told to stay home. His replacement broke curfew and was given a bus ticket home. So, of course, the game came down to the toe of the third string, senior kicker, Justin Meyer. Let me repeat that “third string, senior kicker”. i.e. someone unable to beat out two other kickers.

For a good long while the kid did fine. Meyer did all the scoring the Hokies managed in the first three quarters as he connected on field goals of 37, 43 and 36 yards. And, in the fourth quarter, after Logan Thomas scored on a 1 yard run and passed for a 2-point conversion, Meyer kicked a 25-yarder to tie the game.

So the kid made four field goals, scoring 12 of Virginia Tech’s 20 points in regulation. Will he be celebrated for doing that? No. He’ll probably be vilified for missing a 37-yard attempt in OT that allowed Michigan to escape with a victory after Brendan Gibbons drilled his 37-yard field goal down the middle a few moments later.

Virginia Tech had just 377 yards net offense but even that was double Michigan’s 184 yards. And while Michigan’s defense stiffened in the red zone, hence the four Meyer field goals, it was bad play on special teams, of all things, that cost Frank Beamer’s Hokies dearly.

Michigan succeeded on a fake field goal, had a drive kept alive on a roughing the punter, forced a fumble on a kick return and blew up a VT attempted fake punt late in the game.

The Wolverines’ Denard Robinson was just 9 of 21 passing for 117 yards with one TD. He also had just 13 yards on 13 carries. Quite possibly it was his worst outing this year.

Virginia Tech’s Logan Thomas was 19 of 28 for 214 yards. He had 53 yards rushing on 16 carries but they all seemed to convert big third downs and one of those yards was for a TD.

I picked the winner correctly, but this was a loser of a game as far as entertainment is concerned.

Aerie Report, January 03, 2012

2012-01-03T15:02:00.003-05:00

One of the coldest mornings of this winter. It dropped to 8 degrees this morning before starting to climb back into the double digits. The steady breezes made it feel even colder. Since those winds continue out of the north-northwest, we're getting a few lake effect snow showers today and tonight. The temperatures will drop even lower over Tuesday night and may approach 0 degrees early Wednesday morning.

******

Terry's feeling better and seems to have gotten over the flu she contracted last Friday.

Meanwhile my head cold continues unabated. I've more congestion than I-80 headed to the GW Bridge at 7:30 AM on a weekday. Yeah, I'm officially and literally a mouth breather.

Hell of a way to start the new year.

The Sugar Bowl

2012-01-03T12:43:00.001-05:00

Tonight’s Sugar Bowl will see #13 Michigan (10-2, 6-2, 2nd Big Ten Legends Division) against #17 Virginia Tech (11-2, 7-2, 1st in ACC Coastal Division).

The two teams appear to be pretty well matched—-on paper. The Wolverines have the nation’s 11th best rushing offense (235.7 yards per game) while the Hokies have the 13th best rushing defense (107.8 ypg). Conversely, the Virginia Tech is 28th in rushing offense while Michigan is 31st in rushing defense (129.1 ypg).

The Hokies are better in the passing offense being 64th in the nation with 227.1 ypg while the Wolverines are 87th with 187.4 ypg. Michigan has an edge in passing defense. They are 15th in the nation yielding just 188.5 ypg compared to the Hokies 36th position with 206.2 ypg.

Michigan has Denard Robinson (“only” 2056 yards passing on 133 completions but 1163 yards rushing on 209 carries). Virginia Tech has David Wilson (266 carries for 1627 yards).

The difference is VT plays in the ACC while Michigan played in the Big Ten. And this time it DOES make a difference. Michigan will stop David Wilson. VT will not stop Denard Robinson.

Michigan will win this one 31-17.

Just a 50-50 kind of day.

2012-01-03T12:03:00.004-05:00

Well, I didn’t do so well on Monday. Of the six games played I got only half the winners correct. I did get two of the scores spot on, but for the wrong teams. I said the Rose Bowl would be 45-38 and the Fiesta Bowl would be 41-38 and they were. Only problem was I thought the Badgers and Cardinal would win and it turned out to be the Ducks and the Cowboys.

Ticket City Bowl: Houston 30, Penn State 14
(I picked Houston)

The Houston Cougars rolled to a 30-14 victory over the Nittany Lions of Penn State in the Ticket City Bowl. The Cougars had 600 yards of net offense—most of it coming via the arm of Case Keenum who completed 45 of 69 passes for 532 yards and three TDs. Two of those TDs—-40 yards and 75 yards—-went to receiver Patrick Edwards who finished the day with 10 catches for 228 yards. Justin Johnson—-12 catches for 148 yards—-had the other TD.

Keenum had 227 first-quarter passing yards. That set the record for most passing yards in one quarter in any bowl game. The previous record was 223 yards by Louisville’s Browning Nagel vs Alabama in the first quarter of the 1991 Fiesta Bowl.

A touchdown by PSU’s Stephfon Green on a 6-yard run late in the first half, stiffened defense and 69-yard TD pass from Rob Bolden to Justin Brown in the second half kept this from being a blowout on the scoreboard as well as on the field.

Matt Hogan hit field goals of 35, 38 and 22 yards for Houston.

******

Gator Bowl: Florida 24, Ohio State 17
(I had Florida)

Last year, Urban Meyer coached the Florida Gators. Next year, Urban Meyer will coach the Ohio State Buckeyes. Yesterday, Meyer’s former team manhandled Meyer’s future team, 24-17. Don’t let the score fool you. It wasn’t that close.

Florida’s Andre Debose returned a kickoff 99 yards for a TD and Chris Rainey blocked a punt that Graham Stewart picked up and returned 14 yards for a TD.

Ohio State’s freshman Braxton Miller completed 18 of 23 passes for 162 yards and two TDs, but hat second one came with just 57 seconds left in the game. But then the Buckeyes failed to recover the onsides kick and that was all she wrote.

******

Capital One Bowl: South Carolina 30, Nebraska 13
(I had South Carolina)

Alshon Jeffery had four catches for 148 yards and a TD on a spectacular 51-yard Hail Mary as time ran out in the first half of the Capital One Bowl. That catch put South Carolina ahead of Nebraska 16-13 at the break.

But, in the third quarter Jeffery got himself ejected along with the Cornhuskers’ cornerback Alfonso Dennard when they traded punches after a play.

No matter. The second half saw Kenny Miles score on a 9-yard pass and a 3-yard run while the Gamecock defense shut out the Cornhuskers to cement a 30-13 victory.

******

Outback Bowl: Michigan State 33, Georgia 30 in 3OT
(I picked Georgia.)

Down 16-0 at halftime, Michigan State managed to tie the Georgia Bulldogs 27 all in regulation and win the Outback Bowl 33-30 in the third overtime period when they blocked a Blair Walsh field goal attempt that could have kept the game going…and going…and going…

Kirk Cousins, who engineered the MSU comeback, was 27 of 50 for 300 yards, one TD, and three INTS. Le'Veon Bell scored on short runs of 8 and 1 yard.

Aaron Murray was 20 of 32 for 288 yards, two TDs—including an 80-yarder to Tavarres King—and two INTs for the Bulldogs.

Brandon Boykin, one of the few players in the game to line up on both sides of the ball as well as special teams scored on a safety in the first quarter, returned a punt 92 yards for a TD and caught a 13-yard TD pass for Michigan State.

******

Rose Bowl: Oregon 45, Wisconsin 38
(right score-wrong team)

The Oregon Ducks’ Darron Thomas completed 17 of 23 passes for 268 yards and three TDs while De'Anthony Thomas scored on TD runs of 91 and 64 yards—his only two carries of the game and LaMichael James had 159 yards and a TD on 25 carries.

For the Wisconsin Badgers, Russell Wilson was 19 of 25 for 296 yards and a TD with another score on a 4 yard run and Montee Ball had 164 yards and a TD on 32 carries. Louis Nzegwu returned a fumble 33 yards for a TD.

It all added up to a 45-38 Rose Bowl win for Oregon. It was the first Rose Bowl win for Oregon in 95 years and the highest ever point total by both teams in this storied bowl.

******

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State 41, Stanford 38 in OT
(another correct score but the wrong team)

After one bowl game (the Outback Bowl) went to triple overtime and another (the Rose Bowl) had the highest point total in its history, it was going to be tough for the Fiesta Bowl to prove more entertaining than any of the other games played on Monday…but it did.

Led by two stellar quarterbacks, the Stanford Cardinal and Oklahoma State Cowboys played one whale of a game Monday night. While Andrew Luck engineered a more balanced, methodical attack for most of the game, Brandon Weeden hit Justin Blackmon three times for long, quick strikes.

Luck finished the night 27 of 31 for 347 yards and two TDs while Weeden was 30 of 43 for 425 yards and three TDs (all three to Blackmon were 43, 67, and 17 yards) plus one TD on the ground.

Luck also had the help of Stepfan Taylor who carried the ball 35 times for 177 yards and two TDs.

Stanford ran 81 plays for 590 yards net offense compared to Oklahoma State’s 57 plays for 412 yards. Stanford had 27 first downs to Oklahoma State’s 15. The time of possession was equally lopsided: 41:47 for Stanford but just 18:13 for Oklahoma State. In baseball it would be like watching a team of singles hitters against a squad of homerun sluggers. Not that Luck can’t swing for the fences when he needs to. He hit Ty Montgomery for a 53-yard TD in the first quarter.

The Cardinal got off to a 14-0 start before Weeden unlimbered the big guns and brought the Cowboys back to a 21-21 tie at the half. The Cowboys fell behind again in the second half but tied the score at 38 all with 2:35 to go in the game. An eternity to these two teams.

Luck marched the Cardinal down the field to the OSU 18 yard line. With three seconds left it was up to redshirt freshman Jordan Williamson. Williamson had missed just three field goals all season but had already missed one in this game. He missed this 35-yard attempt, hooking it to the left and the game went into overtime.

Williamson missed another field goal, this one from 42 yards out. OSU’s Jordan Sharp made good on a 22-yard chip shot a few moments later and the Cowboys were Fiesta Bowl Champs.

A Big Day on the Gridiron

2012-01-02T09:02:00.003-05:00

Today, Monday January 2nd, we’ll see six bowl games being played with the first kickoff right after the Rose Parade.

Unfortunately, three of them kickoff at the same time and one will have only barely begun when they do. So keep those remotes well oiled and fingers spry!

******

The Ticket City Bowl starts at Noon in Dallas, Texas with #20 Houston (12-1, 8-1, 1st in Conference USA West) vs #24 Penn State (9-3, 6-2, 2nd in the Leaders Division of the Big Ten) (on ESPNU).

Houston has the nation’s #1 pass offense with Case Keenum having completing 71.7% of his passes for 5099 yards, 45 touchdowns and only five interceptions. The Cougars only loss came in their final game of the year. They dropped the C-USA Championship game to Southern Mississippi 49-28.

Penn State is operating under a cloud. They have no university president, no athletic director, no head coach, and no idea who will be in those positions next month. Currently, Tom Bradley is acting as interim head coach. He is being interviewed for the top spot but so are others. Since the fit hit the shan back in November, the Nittany Lions have struggled on the field. They dropped two of their last three games losing to Nebraska and Wisconsin. They’ve had players fighting in the locker room. (A quarterback was injured and may have to sit out this game. A wide receiver was left home.) Things are not all that well in Happy Valley.

The Cougars average 443.8 yards per game passing offense. Penn State is 5th in the nation in pass defense yielding just 162.2 yards per game. The average score of Houston’s 12 victories was 53-21. Twice they scored 73 points in a game. They won’t score that many against Penn State, but they should still manage to win.

Houston 35, Penn State 17.

******

The Capital One Bowl, beginning at 1 PM in Orlando, Florida, pits #10 South Carolina (10-2, 6-2, 2nd in the SEC East) vs #21 Nebraska (9-3, 5-3 3rd in the Big Ten Legends Division) (on ESPN).

The Gamecocks lost Marcus Lattimore, a certified Heisman candidate, in mid season yet still averaged 198 yards rushing per game (24th in the nation). The Cornhuskers average 223.9 yards per game (14th in the nation). Neither is particularly strong in passing offense (92nd and 98th). So this game will come down to defense.

South Carolina is 2nd in pass defense and 4th overall. Nebraska’ s defense is 35th. ‘Nuff said.

South Carolina wins this one 31-17.

******

The Gator Bowl also starts at 1 PM in Jacksonville, Florida with Ohio State (6-6) facing Florida (6-6) (on ESPN2).

Ohio State had a mediocre year. Their offense…well…stunk! They were 26th in passing but 112th in rushing for an overall 101 ranking. Defense was better. The Buckeyes ranked 23rd overall. They lost their last three games (@Purdue, home against Penn St., and @Michigan).

The Gators also had an up and down year. They won their first four, lost their middle four, and split their final four (W, L, W, L). Their offense is ranked 95th in the nation. Their defense, however, ranked 9th overall.

The game is being played in the Gator’s backyard. I see Florida winning this one 24-17.

******

The Outback Bowl is the third game starting at 1 PM in Tampa, Florida #12 Michigan State (10-3, 7-2, 1st in the Big Ten Legends Division) will play #18 Georgia (10-3, 7-2, 1st in the SEC East) (on ABC).

Both teams have top five defenses but the Georgia Bulldogs have an offense just slightly better than the Spartans.

Michigan State won four of their last five losing only to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship—42-39. After losing their first two games, to Boise State and South Carolina, the Georgia Bulldogs ran off 10 straight wins before losing in the SEC Championship game to LSU.

Look for Georgia to win this one 31-28.

******

Now we get to first two of the BCS games.

The Rose Bowl kicks off at 5PM in Pasadena, California and has #5 Oregon (11-2, 9-1, 1st in the PAC 12 North and PAC 12 Champion) playing #9 Wisconsin (11-2, 7-2, 1st in the Leaders Division of the Big Ten and Big Ten Champ) (on ESPN).

The Oregon Ducks have the 4th ranked offense in the nation. Their rush offense is stronger with the likes of LaMichael James leading the way. Their two losses were to LSU back on opening day and to USC in mid November.

Russell Wilson quarterbacks the Wisconsin Badgers’ potent offense. He’s thrown 31 TDs and only 3 INTs. He’s also got Montee Ball in the backfield carrying the ball (1759 yards and 32 TDs on the ground and 6 via the air).

There’s one thing for sure about this game: Points will be scored. Wisconsin wins 45-38.

******

Finally, the Fiesta Bowl begins at 8:30 PM in Glendale, Arizona with #3 Oklahoma State (11-1, 8-1,1st Big 12) vs #4 Stanford (11-1, 8-1, 2nd in the PAC 12 North) (on ESPN).

Oklahoma State Cowboys have Brandon Weeden (72.6 % completion, 4328 yards, 34 TD, but 12 INT) and Joseph Randle (1193 yards rushing and 23 TDs). The Cowboys offense is ranked 3rd in the nation—42nd in rushing, 2nd in passing. But their defense is only 101st—79th against the rush and 99th against the pass.

The Stanford Cardinal have Andrew Luck (70%, 3170 yards, 35 TDs, and just 9 INTs) and Stepfan Taylor (1153 yards rushing and 8 TDs).Stanford’s Offense is ranked 10th in the nation. Its defense is ranked 24th (5th against the rush, 75th against the pass).

Stanford will prevail in this one, although it won’t be easy—or low scoring. Cardinal 41-38.

******

So there are my winners: Houston, South Carolina,Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin and Stanford.

Sick. Sick. Sick.

2012-01-01T11:55:00.004-05:00

Terry (who got a flu shot) has flu-like symptoms: temperature, aches, diarrhea, etc.

I (who got no flu shot) have got one heck of a head cold: congestion, runny nose(How can it be both?), cough, sneezing.

No idea were or when we contracted these bugs, but I wish they would go away!

One heck of a way to end the Old and start the New Year.

I went 3-2 yesterday.

2012-01-01T11:49:00.003-05:00

I managed to get three out of five correct yesterday.

As expected, Texas A&M defeated Northwestern in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, 33-22. However, after the Aggies blew double digit half time leads 5 (or was it 6?) times this year , I confess to holding my breath as the Wildcats put 15 points on the board in the fourth quarter. (Seems like it was every single game they lost they had a double digit lead at the half.)

Ryan Tannehill threw for 329 yards and a TD, Ben Malena scored twice on the ground and Randy Bullock had field goals of 24, 40, 47, and 31 yards for the Aggies. The Aggies were playing under the guidance of interim coach Tim DeRuyter after the firing of coach Mike Sherman at the end of the season. DeRuyter is heading to Fresno State as their new head coach. They also had to deal with the death of offensive lineman Joseph Villavisencio in a car accident on December 22.

******

I got the Sun Bowl wrong. I didn’t expect the Utes to be able to handle the Georgia Tech option…and they didn’t. The Yellow Jackets had 311 yards rushing on 56 plays. Preston Lyons had 138 yards on 18 carries and Tevin Washington had 96 yards on 20 carries.

What I didn’t expect was that Utah would employ a road grader at fullback named Shawn Asiata to pave the way for their own rushing game. Following Asiata and taking advantage of some of the big holes he opened, John White gained 115 yards on 26 carries. Asiata also seemed to be there when the Utes needed to get that big first down. He only caught 5 passes for 57 yards but every one seemed to be for a first down. Asiata caught a 1 yard pass from Jon Hayes in the first quarter for a TD and opened a path to the end zone for White in overtime to end the game. In between, Hays tossed TD passes to Kendrick Moeai and DeVonte Christopher. The former with 6:50 remaining in the fourth quarter and the latter tied the score in regulation with just 1:32 left on the clock.

Quayshawn Nealy returned an interception 74 yards for a TD in the third quarter to put the Georgia Tech ahead 24-10. While Justin Moore kicked field goals of 32 and 34 yards—the latter putting Tech ahead in overtime—he missed two 42 yarder tries and a 48 yard attempt as regulation ended. Any one of them could have sent Georgia Tech home a winner. Instead, the Utes came away with the 30-27 OT victory.

******

In the Fight Hunger Bowl, neither team feasted on offense. This was a game between two teams that should have been playing on the Island of Misfit Toys. Illinois had a six game losing streak, UCLA had a losing record (6-7). Both teams’ head coach had been fired after the season ended and would play under the leadership of interim coaches who will be elsewhere this week.

But the Illinois defense seemed to be hungry. The Fighting Illini held UCLA to a mere 18 yards rushing and Terry Hawthorne returned an interception 39 yards for a TD in the third quarter.

Kevin Prince did throw two TD passes for the Bruins, but the second came in the final minute of play with the Illini leading 20-7.

The new coaches, Tim Beckman at Illinois and Jim Mora at UCLA, have got a lot of work ahead of them. At least Illinois can savoir the 20-14 bowl win as they prepare for next year.

******

The Liberty Bowl saw Cincinnati defeat Vanderbilt 31-24.

Zach Collaros played for the Cincinnati Bearcats for the first time since he broke his ankle back in early November. He looked tentative and rusty as he took the snaps. He “ran” 8 times (for minus 8 yards as most of these were sacks) and he only completed 12 of 29 passes for 80 yards and one TD. He also threw two INTs. BUT—and it’s a big one—the Bearcats won anyway.

They won because Isaiah Pead carried the ball 28 times for 149 yards and a TD. They won because George Winn carried the ball 6 times for 78 yards including a 69-yard beauty for a TD. They won because Ralph Abernathy returned a kickoff 90 yards for a TD.

Vandy’s Chris Boyd scored on a 68-yard catch and run from Larry Smith.

******

The Chick-fil-A Bowl is the other game I got wrong Saturday. A team that has suspended its star running back for violation of team rules and that loses its starting QB in the first quarter should not be able to do what Auburn did as it beat Virginia 43-24. I guess home field advantage was worth more than I thought.

That and Onterio McCalebb and Barrett Trotter. McCalebb rushed for 109 yards on 10 carries and one TD. He also caught two passes for 53 yards and one TD. Trotter (who lost the starting roll to Clint Moseley mid-season) completed 11 of 18 for 175 yards and the one TD to McCalebb.

Oh, and don’t forget the special teams. They recovered an onsides kick and blocked two punts. One of those blocks set the Tigers up on the 16 yard line and—two plays later—resulted in a TD. The other resulted in a safety.

Michael Rocco completed 26 of 41 pass attempts for 312 yards for the Cavaliers. He connected with Kris Burd on a pair of TD passes that gave Virginia a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter—just before Auburn went on a 21-0 spree to take command of the game.

******

No college football for me today! No sir!

It's pros only today anyway. No college games scheduled. Which seems strange for a January 1st. No Rose Parade either.

The Rutgers Alumni Club of Central PA

2011-12-31T12:06:00.007-05:00

Terry and I drove down to Lewisburg, PA and Damon's Grill to meet up with some other Rutgers Alumni and watch the Pinstripe Bowl. The Rutgers Club of Central Pennsylvania is a newly formed chapter of the Rutgers Alumni Club so we were interested in seeing who would show up.

Out hostess and chapter organizer (Mindy) turned is a graduate of Cook College ('99) and the Graduates School of Education ('01). She currently works at Bucknell University located in Lewisburg as Dean of Student Affairs(?). Her husband is a graduate of Rutgers College and is a neurosurgeon working at Geisenger. Their two young sons are 2 1/2 and 1 year olds who were a real joy to be around.

Our hostess, her husband, and their kids.

One other couple stayed with us for the entire time. He was a graduate of the College of Engineering ('72) and is currently semi-retired, his wife, a very pleasant woman even if she is not an RU grad, is a speech therapist working with very young children, and his son is a senior at Annapolis.

The Engineer, his son, and his wife.

I missed getting a photo of the Rutgers track coach and his wife (who works in the athletic department of Bucknell (Assistant AD?)).

We got into a conversation with the bartender (who is also the Bucknell baseball coach) and found out his late uncle was a graduate (RC '70) and track coach at Rutgers.

We had a great time with good people, food, a Rutgers' win, and some fine trivia challenges. More folks would have been nice. Mindy said she expected more to show up but their absence was understandable. After all, it was a workday and folks were busy.

(FYI: We're both RU College of Agriculture and Environmental Science '71 graduates. Terry also has her MS from CAES '72.)

While we were there, a contingent of the Bucknell basketball team came in for dinner. (They are about the only folks on campus during this winter break.) They were followed by the Cornell basketball team who were in town to play the Bison on Saturday. Our Rutgers contingent, which included the two previously mentioned Bucknell officials, proved to be the buffer between two.

New Year's Eve Bowling

2011-12-31T08:00:00.002-05:00

Saturday: Five bowls will be played today.

Noon: The Meineke Car Care Bowl: Texas A&M vs Northwestern on ESPN
2 PM: The Sun Bowl: Georgia Tech vs Utah on CBS
3:30 PM: Kraft Hunger Bowl: Illinois vs UCLA on ESPN
3:30 PM: The Liberty Bowl: Cincinnati vs Vanderbilt on ABC
7:30 PM: the Chick-fil-A Bowl: Virginia vs Auburn on ESPN

You'll need a set of fresh batteries in the remote or three TVs to watch all the action as there's considerable overlap in the schedule.

The good news is they should all be over by 11 PM EST so you can tune in Dick Clark. The bad news is that you'll have time to tune in Dick Clark.

******

The Meineke Car Care Bowl in Houston, Texas sees the Texas A&M Aggies (6-6, 4-5, 7th in the Big 12) vs. Northwestern Wildcats (6-6, 3-5, 5th in the Big Ten Legends Division).
The Aggies have lost four of their last five games beating only Kansas (2-10, 0-9) by a score of 61-7. Three of those losses, however, were by a total of 12 points. While they are ranked in the top 20 in pass offense, rush offense and rush defense, consistency and pass defense (111th in the nation) have been their Achilles heel.

The Wildcats won four of their last five games beating Indiana, Nebraska, Rice and Minnesota while losing the final game to Michigan State. Their offense, passing and rushing is ranked 35th in the nation while their defense is in the middle of the pack (56th against the pass, 84th against the run).

The Aggies hit the field under interim coach Tim DeRuyter, the defensive coordinator for the last two seasons. He’ll be gone after the game heading to Fresno State. Northwestern hasn’t won a bowl game since 1949. They are 0-8 since that Rose Bowl victory.

Depending upon which A&M team shows up, this could be a close game or a blowout. I’m thinking something in between with the Aggies on top 38-28

******

The Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas will have the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-4, 5-3, 3rd in the Coastal Division of the ACC) against the Utah Utes (7-5,)

This game promises to be a contest between an irresistible force (the Yellow Jackets are 3rd in the nation in rush offense) versus the immovable object (the Utes are 7th in the nation in rush defense).

Georgia Tech started the season strong winning their first six games. They stumbled in the second half of the season going just 2-4. One of those victories was a 31-17 victory over Clemson, however.

The Utes started slowly going 3-3 in their first six games. The ended the season with a 4-2 string. The four wins, however, came against teams with losing records: Oregon State (3-9), Arizona (4-8), UCLA (6-7) and Washington State (4-8). Their final game was a 17-14 loss—to Colorado (3-10).

The Utes’ rush defense may be strong, but they’ve not seen an option team like Georgia Tech this season. (They didn’t even play Oregon.) I look for the Yellow Jackets to emerge victorious with a score of 38-30.

******

The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl being played in San Francisco, California has the Fighting Illini of Illinois (6-6, 2-6, 5th in the Leaders Division of the Big Ten) against the UCLA Bruins (6-7, 5-5, 2nd in the PAC-12 South).

This could be the lamest of the bowl games. CBSSports’ Dennis Dodd said it best: “UCLA needed a hall pass to get in sub-.500 because USC wasn't bowl eligible. Illinois comes in riding a red-hot six-game losing streak. Both coaches have been fired. The only way to make this bowl worse -- or maybe better: A halftime human sacrifice.”

Illinois strength is their pass defense (4th in the nation). UCLA averages 190.7 yards per game rushing (29th in the nation). Illinois rush defense is 38th in the nation.

It’s difficult to pick a winner in this one. You might say they are lucky to be here. But UCLA is luckier. The Illini will not do well in this game, but UCLA will do worse. Illinois 24-17.

******

Memphis, Tennessee hosts the Liberty Bowl with the Cincinnati Bearcats (9-3, 5-2, tied for 1st in the Big East) against the Vanderbilt Commodores (6-6, 2-6, 4th in the SEC East).

The Bearcats started the year 7-1 but then Zach Collaros broke his ankle November 12th and they struggled against—and lost to—West Virginia and Rutgers before finishing the year with two victories. The good news for Cincinnati is that Collaros will probably start in the Liberty Bowl. If there’s a set back or he struggles, sophomore Munchie Legaux has proven he’s capable of stepping in. And with Isaiah Pead in the backfield (209 carries for 1110 yards and 11 TDs) they’ve got more than a passing offense. Their rush defense is pretty special too. It’s lead by defensive tackle Derek Wolfe and is ranked 6th in the nation.

The Commodores struggled to find an identity this year. They have no obvious weakness—and no obvious strengths. Running Back Zac Stacy does have 1136 yards on 183 carries and has scored 13 TDs for Vandy. Even with those numbers Vandy’s rush offense is only 44th in the nation.

Cincy will prevail with or without Collaros. (Word came out on Friday that he will be starting.) Bearcats win this one 27-24.

******

The Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia will feature the Virginia Cavaliers (8-4, 5-3, 2nd in the Coastal Division of the ACC) against the Auburn Tigers (7-5, 4-4, 4th in the SEC West).

Virginia finished the season winning four of their last five games losing to Virginia Tech 38-0 in their final game.

Auburn must have gotten their 7-5 record with mirrors. They are 101st in the nation in offense and 76th in defense. They finished the year winning just two of their final three games—against Mississippi (2-10) and Samford (6-5 in the FCS). RB Michael Dyer leads the offense with 242 carries, for 1242 yards and 10 TDs but they haven’t got much else on either side of the ball.

Sounds like a pretty evenly matched set of teams. Neither is that great nor that poor. I’d give the edge to Virginia and say the Cavaliers will win 27-21.

Four for four, baby!

2011-12-31T06:35:00.003-05:00

I picked the winners of all four games played on Friday. Granted the scores weren’t quite right, and my goal is simply to pick the winner and not care about the point spread, but those I said would be close were and those that I thought might be won by larger margins were. Not many surprises.

******

In the Armed Forces Bowl, BYU edged Tulsa in a see-saw struggle, 24-21. It was finally decided when Riley Nelson connected with Cody Hoffman on a 2-yard TD pass with 11 seconds remaining in the game. It was the third time during the game the pair had connected for a score. G.J. Kinne tossed three TD passes for Tulsa.

******

Prior to the Pinstripe Bowl, everyone agreed that for Rutgers to win they would have to do three things: 1) get their running game untracked (Jawan Jamison carried the ball 27 times for 131 yards and two TDs on his way to being named MVP of the game),
2) Rutgers would have to get some decent quarterback play regardless of which one (Dodd or Nova) was in there (the two combined for 13 completions to 7 different receivers on 24 attempts for 196 yards and one TD—Dodd to Brandon Coleman 86 yards—and no INTs) and
3) Rutgers would have to win the turnover battle (How’s 3-0 sound? Two INTs and a forced fumble.)

The Scarlet Knights also got something special from the special teams –a blocked field goal came late in the game. Their ninth blocked kick this season. Only Fresno State has more (10). Meanwhile, San San Te converted on field goals of 21 and 24 yards.

Rutgers beats the Iowa State Cyclones handily 27-13.

Mississippi State’s Vick Ballard rushed for a career high 180 yards in leading the Bulldogs to a 23-17 victory over Wake Forest in the Music City Bowl. Ballard scored twice on runs of 60 and 72 yards. The margin of victory could have/should have been greater, but the Bulldogs turned the ball over three times in the first half including an INT in the end zone as the half ran out. Receiver Michael Campanaro made 10 catches for 128 yards for Wake Forest.

******

In the Insight Bowl, Oklahoma slowly moved out to a 21-0 lead by the end of the third quarter but watched nearly all of it disappear as James Vandenberg and the Iowa Hawkeyes scored twice early in the fourth quarter to make it 21-14. But then Mike Hunnicutt hit on a 35-yard field goal and Blake Bell scored his third TD of the night to put wrap up the scoring and give the Sooners a 31-14 victory.

You couldn’t blame the Hawkeyes receiver Marvin McNutt if he was a bit distracted in the final minutes of the game, however. The sky-cam came crashing down right behind him on one play and he got entangled in the wires. There was a five minute delay as they cleared the debris but thankfully no one got hurt. (As this occurred near the end of a game that started at 10 PM EST, it was well past my bed time. I'm sorry I missed it!)

It's Friday. Now we’re getting serious!

2011-12-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

There are four bowl games being played today:
Noon: Armed Forces Bowl with BYU (9-3) vs. Tulsa (8-4)
3:20 PM: the Pinstripe Bowl has Rutgers (8-4) vs. Iowa State (6-6)
6:40 PM: the Music City Bowl with Wake Forest (6-6) vs. Mississippi State (6-6)
10 PM: the Insight Bowl sees No. 19 Oklahoma (9-3) vs. Iowa (7-5)

Starting with the Armed Forces Bowl being played in Dallas, Texas…

The independent BYU Cougars (9-3) will look to exploit the weak passing defense of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (8-4, 7-1, 2nd in the Conference USA West).

The Cougars ended the season winning eight of their last nine games. Their only loss in that string was to TCU. They won their last three games 42-7, 42-7, and 41-20. BYU’s offense is more than adequate but their defense is their strength. They’re 28th in pass defense and 21st against the rush.

Tulsa has put points on the board even though their offense is only so-so. They rank 41st in pass offense and 24th in rushing. They won seven of their last eight with only a final loss to Houston spoiling their run. In the two games prior, they posted 59 points against Marshall and 57 against UTEP. Besides the loss to Houston, the Golden Hurricane lost early in the year to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Boise State.

This could be a close game but the Cougars should be able to keep Tulsa under control while their offense should be able to take advantage of that porous pass defense. BYU 31, Tulsa 28.

******

Yankee Stadium will host the Pinstripe Bowl with nearby Rutgers (8-4, 4-3, 4th in the Big East) squaring off against Iowa State (6-6, 3-6, 8th in the Big 12).

The Scarlet Knights had something of an up-and-down year. They strung together winning streaks of four and 3 games sandwiched around two losses to Louisville and West Virginia. The lost their final game of the regular season in a lopsided, error filled game against Connecticut. They have also struggled and shifted back and forth at the quarterback position between Gary Nova and Chas Dodd. They have had virtually no running attack for most of the season although Jawan Jamison has shown promise. But they have Mohamed Sanu at wide receiver. They have managed to get their pass offense to 46th in the nation despite their rushing offense being just 111th—a position that allows their opponents to pretty much concentrate on the pass. The Knights defense, however, is where they shine. They are 12th in pass defense and, while their rush defense is ranked as 52nd in the nation, they are much better than that. They played both Navy and Army—and beat both--when those teams were #1 in rushing and held them to about half their average. (Even so, that was enough to raise the number of yards per game RU permitted and drive them down in this particular stat.)

Iowa State Cyclones also had an up-and-down year. Three wins were followed by four losses, then three wins and two losses. They beat Oklahoma State along the way, knocking the Cowboys from the unbeaten rank and ruining their drive to a National Championship game. They also played UConn early in the year in Connecticut and won 24-20. It could be argued that Iowa State faced tougher competition, and that that drove their offense and defense rankings down. (Pass offense was 71st, while the rush offense 34th; the pass defense was 71st and the rush defense 94th.)

Look for Rutgers to get their rush game going. If they succeed (yeah, it's a BIG IF), it will allow Nova (or Dodd) to connect with a respectable corps of receivers lead by Mohamed Sanu. On defense, look for Rutgers to create turnovers and capitalize on them. If they can stay away from turning it over themselves, Rutgers should be able to win 31-24.

(I’m a partial RU graduate. Terry and I graduated from Rutgers' CAES, Class of ’71. Terry and I will be watching this one at a sports bar with a crowd from the Rutgers Alumni Club down in Lewisburg, PA.)

******

Down in Nashville, Tennessee, the Music City Bowl pits the Mississippi State Bulldogs (6-6, 2-6, 4th in the SEC West) against the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest (6-6, 5-3, 3rd in the ACC Atlantic).

Mississippi State managed to go through the season not putting two wins together. The only back to back victories came over Kentucky (5-7) and Tennessee-Martin (5-6) of the Ohio Valley Conference of the FCS. The Bulldogs’ strength is their pass defense.

Wake lost four of its last five games and had only two victories against teams with winning records (Florida State and N.C. State). Their strongest asset is their pass offense.

This should be a close game but look for Mississippi State to edge the Deacon Demons 24-21.

******

Finally, the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Arizona will have the Iowa Hawkeyes (7-5, 4¬-4, 4th in the Legends division of the Big Ten) against the #19 Oklahoma Sooners (9-3, 6-3, 4th in the Big 12).

Iowa won just two of their last five games (Michigan and Purdue) and struggled on both offense and defense.

Oklahoma won three of their last five, losing on the road to Oklahoma State and Baylor. The Sooners are 4th in the nation in pass offense.

Look for the Sooners to put a licking on the Hawkeyes 45-20.

Got two more correct…sorta.

2011-12-30T09:45:00.002-05:00

The two teams I picked to win on Thursday did so. They just won by scores a wee bit different than I thought.

I picked Florida State to be victorious over Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl by a comfortable 31-14. The Seminoles got shut out in the first half and trailed early in the third quarter 14-0 but came back to win 18-14.

I over estimated the Seminole offense which, due to injury, had to start a bunch of young guys on the O-line. You could see the nervousness of that young group as they faced the larger more experienced Irish D. It looked like that young group might just get their quarterback, E.J. Manuel killed with their missed blocks and fidgety play that allowed five sacks. But they settled down and proved competent in the second half allowing Manuel to complete a pair of TD passes. The Florida State defense did its part as it intercepted the Irish’s quarterbacks Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix three times—twice in the red zone— and had four sacks of their own.

Neither team amassed much offense on the night. The Seminoles ran 60 plays for a net of 290 yards and the Irish ran 70 for 280 yards. That's a total of just 570 yards of offense. Keep those numbers in mind when looking at the numbers for the Alamo Bowl.

******

In the Alamo Bowl I predicted Baylor to win over Washington 55-27 and they did prevail in a shootout 67-56.

I tuned in to watch a football game and got a basketball score. (Actually, I switched early to watch the end of the Rutgers-#10 Florida basketball game for a bit. That game was 66-66 at the end of regulation, 76-76 after the first OT and ended with RU on top 85-83. Go RU!)

When the smoke cleared in this one, it seems the Heisman Trophy winner ,, Robert Griffin, wasn’t the best quarterback in the Alamodome—just the one with the win. Keith Price put on one hell of a performance for the Huskies. He completed 23 of 37 passes for 438 yards and four TDs. Oh yeah, he ran for three TDs, too. In contrast, Griffin was 24 of 33 for 295 and one TD. RGIII also scored one on the ground on a nifty 24-yard scramble.

What Griffin did do well was pilot the Baylor juggernaut and hand off the ball to Terrance Ganaway (21 carries, 200 yards and five TDs), Jarred Salubi (5 carries for 101 yards and two TDs), and Tevin Reese (2 carries for 101 yards but no scores).

The combined point total of 123 was just two shy of the all-time bowl record set in the 2001 GMC Bowl by Marshall and East Carolina. That game was a double overtime affair that ended with 125 points being scored. They had just 102 in regulation.

Washington and Baylor had 1,397 yards in total offense between them. That shattered the old mark. The Huskies ran 74 plays for 620 yards and the Bears 85 plays for 777 yards. Baylor ran the ball 52 times for 482 yards and had three (3!) players with 100 or more yards rushing. (Remember, Florida State and Notre Dame had a combined 570 yards of offense.)

This was a fun game to watch--unless you’re a fan of defensive play. (I thought I heard the "Degüello" being played in the background.)

I think I noticed the kickoff men for both teams getting tired near the end of the game. Their kicks only managed to reach the 10 yard line the last few times.

*"Degüello" means "beheading" or, idiomatically, "no quarter" (as in "no surrender to be given or accepted--a fight to the death") in Spanish and was the title of a Moorish-origin bugle call used by the Mexican Army forces at the Battle of the Alamo, Texas, in 1836.

Do you like model trains?

2011-12-29T10:48:00.005-05:00

Okay, that's a trick question.

EVERYBODY likes a well planned model train layout.

But even if you don't, you've got to admire this:

The largest model train layout in the world.

Only problem is that it's in Hamburg, Germany.

(seen at Maggie's Farm)

Thursday's Bowl Games

2011-12-29T10:30:00.001-05:00

Thursday again has two bowl games scheduled. At 5:30 PM there’s the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Florida with #25 Florida State squaring off against Notre Dame and at 9 PM we have the Alamo Bowl from San Antonio, Texas in which #15 Baylor faces Washington. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN.

First, let’s look at the Champs Sports Bowl:

The Seminoles (8-4 overall and 5-2 in conference) finished second in the ACC Atlantic Division behind Clemson. They also finished the year strong, winning six of their last seven games. The only loss was a 14-13 affair with Virginia. Their strength is their defense. They are 19th in the nation in Pass defense giving up just 192.8 ypg and they are 2nd in the nation in rush defense yield a stingy 81.8 ypg. The Seminole defense is ranked 6th overall.

The Fighting Irish (8-4) lost their first two games of the year but then went on to win 8 of their last ten with losses to USC at home (31-17) and Stanford on the road (28-14). No particular facet of their game is exceptional (33rd in pass offense, 48th in rush offense, 32nd in pass defense, and 53rd in rush defense) but they are strong on both sides of the ball and do enough in most games to win.

If Notre Dame is to win this they will have to get some sort of running game going or their QB will get hammered. And they very much need to protect their quarterback. It’s not likely to happen against Florida State, however. Therefore, this one should be a comfortable win for the Seminoles, 31-14.

******

Moving on to the Alamo Bowl:

Washington (7-5, 5-4, 3rd in the PAC 12 North) faces a tough challenge in Baylor (9-3, 6-3, 3rd in the Big 12). Not only is this basically a home game for Baylor—and the Bears are 8-0 in Texas this year, but the Huskies pass defense ranks just 114th in the nation and must come up with a way to stop the prolific pass game of Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III. Griffin and the Bears passing attack are rated 5th in the nation with 356.2 ypg. And Baylor’s rush offense isn’t too shabby either. It’s 18th in the nation with 215.1 ypg. RG3 got that award as much for his feet as his arm.

Baylor’s weakness lies on the defensive side of the ball. They are 110th in pass defense and 96th in rush defense. Still, they should more than hold their own against the Huskies (51st in pass offense, 64th in rush offense).

The Huskies are flat out out matched. The best they could have hoped for was rain and lots of it, but that’s not going to happen this Friday in San Antonio. Unless Baylor stops itself, this could be over in the first half. Look for a blowout with the Bears winning 55-27.

I may have to shop Sears more often.

2011-12-29T10:22:00.003-05:00

And you should too. From Don Surber's Daily Mail blog:

Back in 2003, when the Iraq War began, Sears decided that it not only would keep the jobs of associates called onto active service open, but that it would make up the difference between what the military paid and what the associate ordinarily would earn.

And for 8 years, Sears has kept that policy going — long after the public has forgotten and the color has faded from those yellow ribbons that say Support The Troops. The company has had a few bad quarters in the recession, but it keeps the home fires burning and the checks coming to its reservists and National Guardsmen.

That is service above and beyond the call of duty and someone should be recognized.

Here's the rest of Don's post.

That's better

2011-12-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

I feel better this morning after correctly predicting the winners of yesterday’s games. I said Toledo would beat Air Force 35-27, the final was 42-41. I said Texas would beat Cal 31-17, the final was 21-10.

The Military Bowl was one of the most exciting games of the year not decided in OT or on the final play as time ran out. While Toledo jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter it looked destined to be a blowout.

But Air Force proved that smart as their players are reported to be, they had no idea what the word “quit” means. Air Force was more successful in the air than I expected and Toledo’s defense had a tougher time stopping the Falcons because of it. Tim Jefferson managed to complete 13 of 22 attempts for 159 yards and two TDs. He also scored on the ground from 22 yards out. Air Force was 5 for 6 on fourth down conversions and three of them went for TDs.

And Toledo kept right on scoring behind Terrance Owens (19 of 24 for 210 yards and three TDs) and Adonis Thomas (22 carries for 108 yards and a TD). Special teams play also helped--Eric Page ran a kickoff back 87 yards for a TD. The defense also scored when Jermaine Robinson returned the only interception of the game 37 yards for a TD.

But it came down to a failed two-point conversion that could have been made by Air Force with 52 seconds to go. Holder David Baska tried to run the option off left tackle on a fake kick. Kicker Parker Herrington was in perfect position on his left to receive the pitch but it didn’t come. Instead, the ball was knocked out of Baska’s hands and squirted toward Herrington and eventually out of bounds in the end zone. Even if Herrington fell on the ball it would not have counted. Only the player who fumbles can recover the ball in the end zone for a score.

Congratulations to the Toledo’s new head coach, 32-year old Matt Campbell, on his first win.

******

The Holiday Bowl came down to a little razzle-dazzle and a lot of strong Longhorn defense. Both helped the Longhorns defeat the California Golden Bears 21-10.

The razzle-dazzle was a couple of end around reverses resulting in passes down field. The first worked as WR Jaxon Shipley hit QB David Ash for a 4-yard touchdown. It was Shipley’s fourth completion and third TD pass. (The second attempt fell harmlessly to the turf.) Later, Ash would throw his own TD pass, a 47-yarder to Marquise Goodwin to put Texas ahead for good.

Meanwhile the Longhorn defense was having a grand time knocking the stuffing out of the Cal running backs and QB Zach Maynard. It seemed tackles for losses were the norm. Maynard was sacked six times and Cal turned the ball over on four lost fumbles and an interception. Still, Cody Johnson's 4-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter is the only score directly attributable to a turnover. It was set up when Maynard was sacked and fumbled, which was recovered by Chris Whaley at the Cal 44. Johnson scored three plays later to put the icing on the cake.

Baby it's cold outside.

2011-12-29T08:19:00.003-05:00

We went form temperatures around 40 degrees on Monday to Tuesday rains with southerly winds, to westerlies, and finally very strong Wednesday winds out of the north and cold, cold air. It was 14 degrees this morning but, thankfully, the wind has stopped blowing, the sky is clear and we should get some sun--as soon as it clears the ridge.

Let's try this again...

2011-12-28T09:15:00.003-05:00

There are two more bowl games being played today. Let’s see if I can give the kiss of death to two more victims.

At 4:30 PM we have the Military Bowl in Washington, D.C. with Toledo (8-4, 2nd in the MAC West, 7-1 in conference) facing Air Force (7-5, 5th in the Mountain West, 3-4 in conference).

Toledo Rockets have a potent offense aand are somewhat mixed on defense. They are 29th in the nation in passing offense (272.0 ypg) and 14th in the nation in rushing offense (221.2 ypg). The Rockets’ are 24th in the nation in rush defense allowing just 123.2 ypg but a terrible 107th in pass defense allowing 277.0 ypg.

The Falcons of Air Force aren’t too shabby in rush offense either. They are 2nd in the nation averaging 320.3 ypg. Strangely, Air Force’s pass offense is deplorable. They are just 109th managing just 138.5 ypg. Air Force’s rush defense is a horrible 107th out of 120 teams in the nation. They yield an average of 227.8 ypg. Ah, but their pass defense is superb! The Falcons are 6th in the nation holding their opponents to just 162.7 ypg.

So it looks to boil down to the rushing of Toledo against the bad rush defense of Air Force and the rushing of Air Force against the fairly good rush defense of Toledo. If Air Force wants to win they will either have to overcome that Toledo rush defense or go with their weak passing game against an equally poor Toledo passing defense.

There should be a lot of option running in this one.

The Rockets shoot down the Falcons 35-27.

******

The second game is the Holiday Bowl being played in San Diego at 8 PM ET. Here we have the Texas Longhorns (7-5, 6th in the Big 12, 4-5 in conference) facing the California Golden Bears (7-5, 4th in the PAC 12 North, 5-5 in conference).

The Longhorns dropped three of their last four games. They lost to Missouri (8-5), Kansas State (10-2), and Baylor (9-3). Cal lost only one of their last four—to Stanford by 3 points. The three wins, however came against Washington St. (4-8), Oregon St. (3-9), and Arizona St. (6-7)—not exactly powerhouse teams.

The Longhorns will be ready to play and should gore the Golden Bears.

Texas wins 31-17.

Man! Can I pick 'em? (NO!)

2011-12-28T07:56:00.004-05:00

Okay. I picked BOTH of Tuesday's games wrong. Both were highly entertaining, however.

Especially the Western Michigan-Purdue game. If you watched that game and didn't come out of your seat a couple of times...you were NOT paying attention. Purdue managed to intercept Western Michigan's Alex Carder four (4!) times, successfully recovered two (2!) on-sides kicks (int he first half!), ran a kickoff back 99 yards for a TD (by Raheem Mostert) and still needed a fumble recovery with two minutes to go to stave off the Broncos.

That's because when Alex Carder wasn't hitting Boilermakers, he was hitting Bronco receivers, most notably Jordan White. Carder finished the night 31 of 57 for 439 yards and 3 TDs. White caught 13 of those passes for 265 yards and a TD.

Turnovers were the story of the game, however. Western Michigan had those four INTs AND three fumbles lost. Purdue had seven fumbles and lost three of them. Turnovers were so abundant, some plays had two of them! Twice, Western Michigan was deep in Purdue territory and threatening to score only to have Alex Carder toss an interception which Purdue returned across the 50 yard line only to have the same Western Michigan wide receiver strip the ball and have the Broncos recover and start marching down the field again. In one case they managed to score a TD. The other they had to eventually punt.

Some will call it a sloppy game (one comment I saw on line called it the IHOP Bowl--more turnovers than a pancake house), and, while it was at times cringe worthy, it was definitely entertaining.

******

The N.C. State-Louisville game was a little more staid. Mike Glennon tossed three TD passes in the first half to put the Wolfpack up 21-10 at half time and then the defense pummeled and pressured the Cardinals' Teddy Bridgewater. When David Amerson returned an interception of an errant Bridgewater toss 65 yards for a TD in the third quarter it gave N.C. State a 31-10 lead. Bridgewater and the Cardinals managed to narrow that down to 31-24 with the help of a fake punt, an on-sides kick and two TD passes but they couldn't get closer.

Freshman Bridgewater was 24 of 43 for 274 yards and two TDs and three INTs in a losing cause. Junior Glennon completed 21 of 33 for 264 yards and three TDs and one INT for the victors.

Xmas Presents I Made.

2011-12-27T18:28:00.004-05:00

I mentioned that I made some of the presents we gave to family members this Christmas. I didn't post photos of those gifts because some of the recipients occasionally look in on this blog.

Well, the presents have been given and I can now show you what I did.

These are tissue box holders made of red oak and a little scrollsaw art. I did two more of the hummingbird boxes. The bass box was for my sister-in-law who has become quite the bass fisherperson down there in the Lake of the Ozarks. In addition to really schooling her husband, she's even giving lessons to others.

This year, I think I'll start a little earlier. Thanksgiving was cutting it a little close.

Nerd Season

2011-12-27T11:02:00.002-05:00

From Phil's Phun site:

The bartender comes over to the man, sniffs and says, "You smell kind of nerdy. What do you do for a living?"

The truck driver says, "I drive a bigrig, and the smell is just from computers I am hauling."

The bartender says, "Okay, truck drivers are not nerds," and serves him a beer.

As he is sipping his beer, a skinny guy walks in with tape around his glasses, a pocket protector with twelve kinds of pens and pencils, and a belt at least a foot too long.

The bartender, without saying a word, pulls out a shotgun and blows the guy away.

The truck driver said, totally shocked, "Why did you do that?"

The bartender said, "Not to worry, the nerds are overpopulating Silicon Valley and are in season now. You don't even need a license!"

The truck driver finishes his beer, gets back in his truck, and heads back onto the freeway.

Suddenly he veers to avoid an accident, and the load shifts. The back doors breaks open and computers spill out all over the freeway. He jumps out and sees a crowd already forming, grabbing up the computers. They are all engineers, accountants and programmers wearing the nerdiest clothes he has ever seen.

He can't let them steal his whole load, so, remembering what happened in the bar, he pulls out his gun and starts blasting away, felling several of them instantly.

A highway patrol officer comes zooming up and jumps out of the car screaming at him to stop.

The truck driver said, "What's wrong? I thought nerds were in season."

"Well, sure," said the patrolman. "But you can't bait 'em!"

Tuesday Bowl Games; 12-27-11

2011-12-27T07:00:00.001-05:00

There are two bowl games being played today/tonight. Both are being broadcast on ESPN.

The first, starting at 4:30 PM, is the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit, Michigan. This pits the Western Michigan Broncos (7-5) vs. the Purdue Boilermakers (6-6). The Broncos have a slight edge in the home field advantage, but the Purdue fans will make the trip for a game being played under a roof. Purdue finished third in the Leaders Division of the Big 10 with a 4-4 conference record. Their sole signature win was a 26-23 victory over Ohio State. Western Michigan finished third in the West Division of the MAC with a 5-3 conference record. The ended the season with wins over Miami of Ohio and Akron. Look for the Broncos to pick apart the Purdue pass defense and put a number of points on the board. Alex Carder has engineered a pass offense ranked #8 in the nation. Wide receiver Jordan White has 127 catches for 1646 yards and 16 TDs. Their defense will do enough to produce a comfortable margin of victory.

Western Michigan 45, Purdue 20

The second, with a kickoff of 8 PM, is the Belk Bowl being played in Charlotte, NC. Here, it will be the Louisville Cardinals (7-5) vs. the N.C. State Wolfpack (7-5). N.C. State would seem to have a bit of a home field advantage.

The Wolfpack finished fourth in the Atlantic Division of the ACC (4-4 in conference) and ended the season with consecutive wins against Clemson and Maryland.

The Cardinals are listed as third in the Big East but had the same record in conference as Cincinnati and West Virginia (5-2). They, too, ended the regular season with two consecutive victories; over Connecticut and South Florida. This could be a real good game. Louisville got stronger as the year went on and their youngsters got more experience. Look for the Cardinals’ defense to hold the Wolfpack under control and the offense to do just enough to pull out a win.

Louisville 24, N.C. State 20

Whew! All my (major) running around is done!

2011-12-26T18:03:00.005-05:00

Hoo-boy! Almost 1000 miles on the road between Saturday 10AM and this afternoon at 4 PM. I did 250 into NJ Saturday (Christmas Eve at my sister's and Christmas Morn at my MIL's), another 250 back to the Aerie after Sunday dinner. Then today I gobbled up a little over 800 miles as I traveled north to Fonda, NY to pick up a 1/4 cow from the farmer who raised and had it butchered. (Beeped my horn as I went through your neck of the woods Marianne. Did you hear me? Heck of a mess down by the river!)

At least the weather was gorgeous, traffic light--and when it wasn't it was still moving, and I've now got a freezer full of steaks, roasts and chop meat--LOTS of chop meat. I see a good many bowls of chili, loaves of meatloaf, lasagnas and spaghetti with meat sauce in the future! It's all good.

******

I was sitting here listening to the circulating pumps in the heating system run and run and run some more while my ears got progressively colder. Finally got up and checked the indoor temperatures: 57 degrees on the wall, 54 degrees on the counter! What the hey?! Down stairs I went and found the furnace's digital readout blinking an error code. Something about the return water temperature sensor. It's happened before. I pressed "reset" and the thing tried to fire up. No go and the error message was repeated. Turned the power off. Slowly counted to ten. Turned the power on. Hit the "reset" button again and--BINGO!--the furnace kicked on and the temperature of the water in the system started to climb. I'll be checking it every half hour or so to make sure it's still functioning but it's been chugging away for a while now and things are going A-OK. It will take some time for the air in the house to warm back to the usual 64 degrees but the floor certainly feels nice and toasty!

******

Terry's taking her Mom to Newark so she can catch a flight to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow. That's where Mom catches the ship for the cruise through the Caribbean and half way through the Panama Canal. Terry's sister (Lucille), BIL (Doug), and nephew (Brian) will be accompanying her. Knowing Brian, Grandma will have a blast!

After dropping her Mom off, Terry will be returning to the Aerie.

******

I'm glad the Bears were not able to do anything with Green Bay last night. I might have been "forced" to watch. And, with today's long drive in the offing, I needed my sleep.

Back to Bowl games today with the Independence Bowl out of Shreveport, LA. It features Missouri (7-5) vs. North Carolina (7-5) and, at the half, isn't much of a contest. The Missouri Tigers are beating the snot out of the Tarheels, 31-10. North Carolina scored first (TD) but then Missouri got 31 unanswered points before the Tarheels ended the half with a FG. Debating whether I want to even turn on the TV for the second half.

******

Friday, Terry and I will drive down to Lewisburg for a meeting of the Rutgers Alumni Club and to watch the Pinstripe Bowl (Rutgers (8-4) vs Idaho State (6-6)). The game starts at 3:20 in the afternoon and will be aired by ESPN. If RU had been playing in any other locale (except Hawaii) we probably would have gone to the game. I have this thing about going to Yankee Stadium. (And flying, but that's another story.) This is a new chapter of the RAC located here in central PA. The previous "close" chapters are in Pittsburgh, Philly or Rochester. Far enough away that an afternoon/evening out is not going to happen. This is a straight shot--about 75 miles--down Route 15. We go that far to go to the Lycoming Mall. And more than that to go watch the Binghamton Mets.

BTW, did anyone watch the Hawaii Bowl Christmas Eve? Catch a glimpse of the stands? Yeah, it was tough to do since the cameras were trying very, very hard not to show the "crowd." Southern Miss and Nevada played a decent--if unusually low scoring game (USM 24: NEV 17), but you got the feeling that not even the players' families made the trip. I think there may have been more people around the Duggar Family's Christmas Dinner table on Sunday than at the game Saturday night.

I'm not blaming people for not showing up. Air fare alone would be astronomical. Then there would be the expensive hotel and everything else. Hell, who can afford to spend a week or more in Hawaii during the Christmas Season? (Besides THEM, I mean. THEY can go because we're footing the bill.)

Do you know the front from the back of a tree?

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

[via email from a friend. Sorry about the all-caps. I'm too lazy to clean it up today.]

A REDNECK FROM GEORGIA DECIDES TO TRAVEL ACROSS THE SOUTH TO VIRGINIA TO SEE GOD'S COUNTRY. WHEN HE GETS TO FRANKLIN, HE LIKES THE PLACE SO MUCH,
THAT HE DECIDES TO STAY. BUT FIRST HE MUST FIND A JOB!!!

HE WALKS INTO THE INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY OFFICE AND FILLS OUT AN APPLICATION AS AN EXPERIENCED LOG INSPECTOR.

IT'S HIS LUCKY DAY!!! THEY JUST HAPPEN TO BE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE, BUT FIRST, THE LOG FOREMAN TAKES HIM FOR A RIDE INTO THE FOREST IN THE COMPANY PICKUP TRUCK TO SEE HOW MUCH HE KNOWS.

THE FOREMAN STOPS THE TRUCK ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND POINTS AT A TREE. "SEE THAT TREE OVER THERE? I WANT YOU TO TELL ME WHAT SPECIES IT IS AND HOW MANY BOARD FEET OF LUMBER IT CONTAINS."

THE REDNECK PROMPTLY ANSWERS, "THAT THAR'S A WHITE PINE, 383 BOARD FEET OF LUMBER IN 'ER."

THE FOREMAN IS IMPRESSED!!! HE PUTS THE TRUCK IN MOTION AND STOPS ABOUT A MILE DOWN THE ROAD. HE POINTS AT ANOTHER TREE THROUGH THE PASSENGER

WINDOW AND ASKS THE SAME QUESTION. THIS TIME, IT'S A BIGGER TREE OF A DIFFERENT CLASS.

"THAT'S A LOBLOLLY PINE AND SHE'S GOT ABOUT 456 CLEAR BOARD FEET."

THE FOREMAN IS REALLY IMPRESSED WITH THE GOOD OL' BOY, HE HAS BEEN QUICK AND GOT THE ANSWERS RIGHT WITHOUT USING A CALCULATOR. TIME FOR ONE MORE TEST.

THEY DRIVE A LITTLE FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD, AND THE FOREMAN STOPS AGAIN.

THIS TIME, HE POINTS ACROSS THE ROAD THROUGH HIS DRIVER SIDE WINDOW AND SAYS "AND WHAT ABOUT THAT ONE?"

EVEN BEFORE THE FOREMAN FINISHES POINTING, THE REDNECK SAYS, "WHITE OAK, 242 BOARD FEET AT BEST."

THE FOREMAN SPINS THE TRUCK AROUND AND HEADS BACK TO THE OFFICE A LITTLE TICKED OFF BECAUSE HE THINKS THE RED NECK IS SMARTER THAN HE IS. AS THEY NEAR THE OFFICE, THE FOREMAN STOPS THE TRUCK ONE MORE TIME AND ASKS BUBBA TO STEP OUTSIDE.

HE HANDS HIM A PIECE OF CHALK AND TELLS HIM, "SEE THAT TREE OVER THERE? I WANT YOU TO MARK AN X ON THE FRONT OF THAT TREE!!"

THE FOREMAN THINKS TO HIMSELF, "IDIOT, HOW WOULD HE KNOW WHICH IS THE FRONT OF THE TREE?"

WHEN BUBBA REACHES THE TREE, HE GOES AROUND IT IN A CIRCLE WHILE LOOKING AT THE GROUND. HE THEN REACHES UP AND PLACES A WHITE X ON THE TRUNK. HE WALKS BACK TO THE FOREMAN AND HANDS HIM THE CHALK. "THAT THAR'S THE FRONT,"THE REDNECK SAYS.

THE FOREMAN LAUGHS TO HIMSELF AND ASKS SARCASTICALLY, "HOW IN THE HELL DO YOU KNOW THAT'S THE FRONT OF THE TREE?"

THE GOOD OL' BOY LOOKS DOWN AT HIS FEET, WHILE RUBBING THE TOE OF HIS LEFT BOOT, CLEANING IT IN THE GRAVEL, AND REPLIES, "CUZ SOMEBODY TOOK A SHIT BEHIND IT!"

HE GOT THE JOB.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

2011-12-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

Hallelujah!!

2011-12-24T23:59:00.000-05:00

Angels We Have Heard On High

2011-12-24T23:00:00.002-05:00

Silent Night

2011-12-24T22:00:00.000-05:00

Carol of the Bells

2011-12-24T19:00:00.001-05:00

O Holy Night!

2011-12-24T18:00:00.000-05:00

On The Road

2011-12-24T11:00:00.000-05:00

I'll be heading into NJ today to celebrate Christmas with my sister's family (Christmas Eve) and with my MIL and Daughter (Christmas Day).

Terry left the Aerie yesterday heading in the same direction. Since she'll be staying a few days longer to help get Mom on her flight south so she can take a cruise to the Panama Canal, we decided to take separate vehicles...again. The round trip to the NJ locales is about 450 miles.

Monday, I'll most likely be heading up to New York State (Amsterdam area) to pick up some beef (1/4 of a steer) that we ordered. That will be a round trip of between 400 and 500 miles.

So, between the two, I'll be on the road for almost a thousand miles. And, except for the stiff knees, enjoying every minute of it.

In the mean time, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I'll see you on the flip side if not while I'm traveling. I've left some Christmas Carols for later this evening. Come back and enjoy if you so desire.

Three (more) Bowl Games

2011-12-23T19:35:00.002-05:00

Three bowl games were played so far this week. Two of them were decided in the last minute while the third was a blowout from the opening kickoff!

Tuesday, Florida International and Marshall were tied 10 all at the half and at the end of the third quarter of the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl. Only when the Thundering Herd tallied 10 in the final quarter was the game decided. Marshall was able to break the tie with a 39-yard field goal--set up after a blocked punt—with just 5:16 left. Rakeem Cato (27-39 for 226 yards and 2 TDs) hit Aaron Dobson on a 35-yard TD pass with seconds left to ice the victory.

******

Wednesday, Mountain West Champions TCU squared off against Western Athletic Conference champion Louisiana Tech in the Poinsettia Bowl. This game was also tied 10-10 at the half but it was clear that the Bulldogs were outplaying the Horned frogs—right up until the last five minutes of the half. It was then that an interception set up an Ed Wesley 7-yard TD run to tie the game.

TCU’s Matthew Tucker scored another TD on a 1-yard run early in the second half, but then momentum then flipped back to Louisiana Tech as they converted two TCU turnovers into TDs to take a 24-17 lead into the fourth quarter. TCU tied the game again with 7:49 to go as Luke Shivers scored on a 1-yard run capping a time consuming, 72-yard, 18-play drive. After a three-and-out series by the Bulldogs, the Horned Frogs took the lead for good when they scored on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Casey Pachall (15 of 29 for 206 yards) to Skye Dawson with 4:26 remaining. Not the last minute, but close.

TCU amassed 190 yards on the ground. Colby Cameron completed 21 of 43 passes for 264 yards and two TDs for the Bulldogs.

******

Thursday evening, the Boise State Broncos rolled over the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Maaco Bowl Las Vegas in a game punctuated by BIG plays. The Broncos scored on the opening kickoff (100 yards by Doug Martin who also rushed for 151 yards for the night) and held a 7-0 lead with just 14 seconds off the clock.

Two first half touchdown passes by Kellen Moore and another by receiver Matt Miller gave the Broncos a 28-3 lead at the half.
When Arizona State’s Rashad Ross returned the kickoff starting the second half 98 yards for a TD it looked, for a moment, that there might be a chance for a game. Wasn’t to be, however.

The Broncos’ defense added touchdowns on a 100-yard interception return and a 26-yard interception return. And Doug Martin kept slashing through the line for yard after yard. When the night was over, he had 301 all-purpose yards, a new Las Vegas Bowl record.

While a Boise victory usually means big numbers by Kellen Moore, the biggest number he posted this time was 50. He’s the first quarterback to lead his team to 50 victories during his career. He did complete 26 of 34 for 293 yards and the two TDs. He also tossed two interceptions and fumbled once. Most unusual.

On the ASU side of the line, wide receiver Gerell Robinson set a bowl record with 241 yards on 13 catches. Brock Osweiler completed 30 of 47 passes for 395 yards and two TDs.

Winter Solstice and other thoughts.

2011-12-21T07:51:00.005-05:00

Today marks the Winter Solstice. It's that day on which the Sun reaches its furthest point south of the Equator and begins to turn around. It's that day on which we have the fewest number of daylight minutes and the largest number of nighttime minutes. From now until June we will have more minutes of light and fewer of darkness in our part of the world.

In a counter intuitive manner, it is also the day that marks the beginning of Winter here in the Northern Hemisphere. The Earth works on a bit of a time delay in regards to the seasons. It takes time to store heat in the Spring/Summer and to lose that stored heat in the Fall/Winter. That's why the coldest days are yet to come--usually late January or early February despite the lengthening daylight hours. It's also why the hottest days of the year are usually late July or early August when the number of daylight hours are already decreasing.

******

The cats--Shadow in particular--seemed unhappy with the alignment of the Universe last night. They--she especially--started to howl at the door at 4 AM and got very serious about waking us up soon after. She succeeded. I got out of bed at 4:45 AM when I couldn't ignore the caterwauling any more. Of course, they are all snoozing with full bellies now (8 AM) while I'm looking for a second (or is it third) large mug of coffee.

******

The wind switched around to come from the south last evening and that brought slightly warmer temperatures as well as a fine misting rain. Cloud ceiling must be around 1800 feet and only the swirling wind coming over the mountain has kept us from being completely engulfed in fog.

Bird Roundup at the Aerie

2011-12-20T11:13:00.005-05:00

Our bird feeders and the environs around the Aerie have been busy places lately.

We've seen a small flock of Goldfinches make them a daily stop. Anywhere from 12 to 24 of the olive birds with their black wings with white stripes can be seen in the morning getting their fill of black oil sunflower seeds.

A somewhat larger number of Dark-eyed Juncos can be found along the edge of the yard or underneath the feeders looking for seeds of all sorts on the ground. Some of these snowbirds will come up to the deck and the tray feeder to pick at the pieces of sunflower seeds left by the squirrels and larger birds but I seldom catch them actually opening a sunflower seed themselves.

The ground feeding Mourning Doves are often around. I've watched some of them start under the feeder and work their way up into the woods turning leaves to locate wind-blown seed or insects.

The Black-capped Chickadees continually flit in and out to raid the feeders. They seldom stay longer than it takes to pick out a "good" seed from the lot before they head off to the pines to either eat their find or stash it in some nook or crevasse for later.

The Tufted Titmice behave in much the same manner as the Chickadees, but are far fewer in number. Same with the White-breasted Nuthatches who are fewer still.

Yesterday we thought we saw a female Purple Finch at the tray and today we had confirmation of a sort when a male showed up in his raspberry colors.

We've got a few Downy Woodpeckers that come for seed, too. We'd probably have more if I put out a suet block, but the last one got carried off by a bear and the feeder was never seen again.

I thought I spotted a Brown Creeper in the locust trees off the yard the other day. I didn't have my binoculars with me but it was small and brown and sure behaved like one going down the tree trunk head first. It won't come to the seed feeders, however, as it prefers the insect eggs, bugs and spiders it finds in the tree bark.

Overhead there are the Common Ravens, American Crows and the occasional Red-tailed Hawk. They don't come to the feeders but they do make their presence known. (Actually, I keep waiting for the Red-tails to zoom in and snatch one of the many Gray Squirrels that monopolize the feeders for hours. I counted a dozen of the tree rats this morning. Or, perhaps, a Sharp Shinned Hawk to scoop up a Goldfinch or Junco.)

I also caught sight of a flock of geese, probably 175-200 Canadas, heading south the other day after the front moved through and the wind shifted and temperatures plummeted. They were way up there just beneath the cloud bottoms and seemed a bit disorganized as they tried to form up. It wasn't the prettiest V in the world and there was lots of discussion about that and perhaps their destination as they flew on.

There you have it. A roster of what's been seen at the Aerie over the past week or so.

Last Saturday's Bowl Games

2011-12-19T11:20:00.003-05:00

While anticipating the games coming up this week, let's look back at those that were played on Saturday.

Last week I said: "None of these three pit so-called Top Teams against one another. None of the teams even won their own conference. Each game, however, looks to be pretty competitive." That last sentence proved true for two out of the three.

Only the Wyoming--Temple match proved to be a blow out with the Owls pounding the Cowboys in the New Mexico Bowl 37-15 in a game that wasn't that close. Temple had a 21-0 lead as the first half neared its close before Wyoming put 7 points on the board with 37 seconds to go. Bernard Pierce ran for 100 yards and two TDs to lead the Owls to their second ever bowl victory.

The other two games proved to be real nail biters as each came down to the closing seconds.

Ohio's Tyler Tettleton led a 61-yard drive in the final 2:02 and scored on a one-yard keeper with 13 seconds left to give Ohio its first bowl victory, 24-23 over Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. It was Ohio's sixth bowl appearance. Michael Smith rushed for 157 yards on just 12 carries for the Utah State Aggies. He also scored two TDs--one of them on a 67-yard run from scrimmage. Smith's teammate, Robert Turbin, added 101 yards on 20 carries. The day, however, belonged to Tyler Tettleton. In addition to scoring the winning TD, he completed 19 of 26 pass attempts for 220 yards and two TDs of 26 and 44 yards.

The late night game (at least here in the east) saw the Ragin' Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette squeak out a victory over the San Diego State Aztecs 32-30 in the New Orleans Bowl when the Cajuns' place kicker Brett Baer connected on a 50-yard attempt with time running out to end an aerial shootout in which both teams had over 400 yards passing.

This one started out slow--it was just 13-3 at the half--but ended with everyone panting for breath. Baer had missed two extra point attempts earlier in the game--one blocked and one flat out missed--so his making a field goal from 50-yards out was anything but a sure thing! For the Cajuns, Blaine Gautier completed 24 of 40 passes for 470 yards and three TDs, receiver Darryl Surgent returned a punt 87 yards for a first half TD and finished the day with 283 all-purpose yards, while Javone Lawson made 9 catches for 193 yards and two TDs. The Aztec's Ryan Lindley completed 28 of 49 passes for 413 yards and three TDs--all to Colin Lockett. A failed 2-point conversion pass on San Diego State's final TD proved costly, however. This was the Ragin' Cajun's first bowl appearance in 41 years and being played in New Orleans, gave them something of a home field advantage as there were nearly 43,000 fans on hand setting a New Orleans Bowl attendance record.

So, there you have it. One game a blow out and two nail biters. Switching channels or--GASP--turning off a game at half time--as I did the New Orleans Bowl (Hey! It was after 10 PM already!), may cause you to miss some exciting finishes.

Bowls of the week

2011-12-19T07:00:00.002-05:00

Four bowl games will be played this week. One pits two conference champs against each other: MWC vs. WAC. We're still not seeing the teams from what's considered the Top Conferences, but there will be some good football being played just the same.

Tuesday, 20-Dec The Beef O'Brady's Bowl in St. Petersburg, FL on ESPN at 8:00 PM
FIU Golden Panthers (8-4) vs. Marshall Thundering Herd (6-6)
Sun Belt Conference vs. Conference USA

Wednesday, 21-Dec The Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, CA
on ESPN at 8:00 PM
#16 TCU Horned Frogs (10-2) vs. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (8-4)
Champs of the Mountain West Conference vs. Champs of the Western Athletic Conference

Thursday, 22-Dec The Maaco Bowl in Las Vegas, NV
on ESPN at 8:00 PM
#8 Boise State Broncos (11-1) vs. Arizona State Sun Devils (6-6)
Mountain West Conference vs. PAC 12

Saturday, 24-Dec The Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu, HI
on ESPN at 8:00 PM
#22 Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (11-2) vs. Nevada Wolf Pack (7-5)
Champs of Conference USA vs. Western Athletic Conference

About that poverty report by the AP...

2011-12-17T15:57:00.004-05:00

I snorted fluids through my nose when I read this over at Instapundit:

THE HORROR: When half of all households are below the median income. I blame Barack Obama, and I want a president who won’t rest until everyone is above the median income! But how likely is that when most people are perfectly satisfied to live in a society where twenty percent are in the bottom quintile?

Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 2:57 pm

The I read the linked article and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The other day AP published an article titled, "Census shows 1 in 2 people are poor or low-income," which pointed to a US Census Bureau report showing that half of all households earn less than the median national income. Yes, you read that correctly.

The AP's Hope Yen reported:

Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans -- nearly 1 in 2 -- have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

The Census Bureau's definition of a 'low-income household' is less than $45,000, as the AP's Yen wrote:

Many middle-class Americans are dropping below the low-income threshold -- roughly $45,000 for a family of four...

As we noted in a post on the AP 'story,' the US Census Bureau estimates that the median 2009 US household income was about $50,000.

Sounds like a report on Lake Woebegone:

Lake Wobegon is characterized as the town where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."

My goodness! Half the US households are below the middle (median) income level! Who would have thunk it!

Lies. Damn lies. And statistics. (Although that usually only works if you can confuse people with the statistics--not your stupidity.)

1500 Eared Grebes crash into WalMart Parking Lot

2011-12-16T19:25:00.006-05:00

And it wasn't even Black Friday.

It happened in southern Utah earlier this week.

They're just everywhere. That's how a wildlife manager describes the mass casualties of Eared Grebes that crash landed in southern Utah on Monday night. Some 1,500 grebes died, another 3,000 have been rescued. The small water birds were migrating and apparently mistook a Walmart parking lot, highways and football fields covered with snow for bodies of water.

An ornithologist (Kevin McGowan. He's at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York) discusses the whys and wherefores on NPR.

Kevin McGowan:

Well, these guys are flying at night. So, they are up in the air and are usually trying to figure out which way is up, by the fact that the sky is lighter than the ground. It sounds like there was bad weather that they ran into and were trying to get down out of the air.

Then they look down and they see this wide-open, dark area that looks like it's got - it's shiny, it is reflecting the sky. Hey, that's got to be a lake. And that's exactly what they're looking for. So they went down to land in a nice glide at 40 miles an hour and expecting the waters to part in front of them and it was asphalt. That's not so good if you're a grebe.

Of course, such things have happened in the past. Birds crash into frozen lakes and rivers often. But there are plenty of eyes about now and there were not then.

More at the link above or ">here.

Now THAT'S a...

2011-12-16T18:51:00.002-05:00

...BIG bear!

829-pound bear takes record in N.J. hunt

We lived in Morristown in Morris County back before we moved to PA. I hunted in Warren County and saw bears while I was out there. Never saw one this big, however.

Well, that's one way...

2011-12-16T14:41:00.003-05:00

...to avoid the bear hunting season in New Jersey.

HOPATCONG, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — The 550-pound bear that was found hiding out in a New Jersey basement had been living there for weeks.
...
Annacone learned about his roommate yesterday from Dave Cornine, a Cablevision technician who had come over for a repair job in the basement.

“I heard the growl, I thought what is that noise,” Cornine said.

Cornine turned around and saw an enormous black bear waking up in the corner. He didn’t stick around to make friends with the animal.

The bear was eventually tagged and released on state property. Hopefully a good distance from Mr. Annacone's home.

Read the rest here.

Aerie Report, December16, 2011

2011-12-16T10:23:00.006-05:00

It's been a wild ride over the past 24 hours here at the Aerie.

All day yesterday the winds blew out of the south and we were hit with a misting rain much of the day as we watched a long thin stream of heavier and sometimes down right violent rain move north northeast over the Allegheny National Forest, Erie and Buffalo. As this band of rain rapidly moved along the front, it also edged its way eastward and it became a question of whether or not we would be affected by its passing.

All day the temperatures slowly rose as the warm southern air engulfed us until the thermometer reached its high of 50 degrees around 7 PM. That's about when the wind shifted to come from the west and the tail of the band of rain hit us. It poured for a little over half an hour as that front moved through. Then the wind shifted even more so as to come from the northwest and its velocity began to increase as well.

During the night, the rain stopped but the wind blew even harder. The house creaked under the onslaught and the sound of the wind in the trees increased to the point of being akin to a freight train just outside the window. It woke us between three and four AM with its din.

Miraculously, there were no trees blown down or uprooted under the force of the wind. If this had happened while there were still leaves on the branches, I'm sure the story would have been different.

The wind has since died down to a more acceptable 5-10 mph. The temperature has also dropped to 30 degrees this morning as Canadian air moves in. It's still overcast and gray but the threat of precipitation whether rain or snow is pretty much over.

******

Tomorrow promises to be a cool but clear day for our annual Christmas Bird Count. Terry and I will be hitting the Lamb's Creek area, part of the Mansfield Watershed area up on Shaw Road and, perhaps, the Firetower in the State Gamelands Area 37. A lot depends upon how much we see and how much time we spend in any one area. Each of these would be full morning visits--in the spring. During the winter there are far fewer birds and bird species around. In a preliminary scout last week, we saw and heard very, very few individual birds.

******

Terry has been out partying with all her groups (Ladies' Guild, EGA, Curves) virtually every day this week and tomorrow's Bird Count ends with another luncheon at a friends house.

Next week we'll be heading into NJ for Christmas Eve with my sister and her family and Christmas Day with Grandma and our daughter, Jessica. We'll take two cars since Terry is going in early and staying late. Grandma needs a ride to the airport for a cruise through the Panama Canal with grandson Brian and daughter Lucille and SIL Doug, with whom she will connect in Miami.

Let the Bowl Season Begin!

2011-12-15T07:00:00.002-05:00

This Saturday begins the post season in college footballs FBS division. There are three games on tap.

New Mexico Bowl at Albuquerque, NM on ESPN2 at 2:00 PM
Wyoming Cowboys(8-4) vs. Temple Owls (8-4)
Mountain West Conference vs. Mid-American Conference

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl at Boise, ID on ESPN at 5:30 PM
Ohio Bobcats (9-4) vs. Utah State Aggies (7-4)
Mid-American Conference vs. Western Athletic Conference

New Orleans Bowl at New Orleans, LA on ESPN at 9:00 PM
La.-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns (8-4) vs. San Diego State Aztecs (8-4)
Sun Belt Conference vs. Mountain West Conference

None of these three pit so-called Top Teams against one another. None of the teams even won their own conference. Each game, however, looks to be pretty competitive.

The next two weeks will see many games of this nature leading up to The Big One on January 9. The BCS Championship Game has lost some of its luster (at least in my mind) since it's a rerun of LSU vs. Alabama.

For you ski bums out there

2011-12-14T09:38:00.003-05:00

Are you a skier who lives in town and can't get to a slope out in the mountains? Well, that's no excuse at all! Watch the video below for some ideas (and great footage) of some urban skiing.

(Okay, the skis might not be in good shape after hitting the pavement, but it sure looks like he's having fun!)

(Seen on the sidebar over at Ace's.)

Groundhog Day 2012

2011-12-13T13:02:00.002-05:00

Groundhog Day..............

In the coming year, 2012, both Groundhog Day and The State of the Union Address will occur on the same day.

This is an ironic juxtaposition of events.

One involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to an insignificant creature of little intelligence for prognostication.

The other involves a groundhog.

(Seen at Theo Spark's place.)

A Scotsman sees his first baseball game

2011-12-13T11:37:00.003-05:00

A Scotsman moves to Canada and attends his first baseball game.

The first batter approaches the batters' box, takes a few swings and then hits a double. Everyone is on their feet screaming "Run!"

The next batter hits a single. The Scotsman listens as the crowd again cheers "RUN! RUN!" The Scotsman is enjoying the game and begins screaming with the fans.

The fifth batter comes up and four balls go by. The Umpire calls: "Walk." The batter starts his slow trot to first base. The Scot stands up and screams, "Run ye lazy bastard, RRUNN!" The people around him begin laughing. Embarrassed, the Scot sits back down.

A friendly fan notes the man's embarrassment, leans over and explains, "He can't run -- he's got four balls."

The Scot stands up and screams, "Walk with pride, Laddie! Walk with pride."

(Seen at Phils Phun where there's lots of things to make you smile and laugh out loud.)

On Obamacare

2011-12-13T08:23:00.003-05:00

From Rasmussen Reports:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 55% of Likely U.S. Voters at least somewhat favor repeal of the health care law passed by Congress in March 2010, while 35% at least somewhat oppose repeal.

Only 55%? Apparently some in that other 35% still don't know what's in the bill or its implications.

Anytime someone tells you you have to pass a bill to find out what's in it, your automatic--and correct--response should be: "No."

Make that: "Hell no!"

"Ya gotta believe!"

2011-12-11T19:22:00.004-05:00

The Mets' Tug McGraw coined the phrase "Ya gotta believe!" Well, that slogan may have moved west.

Denver trailed Chicago 10-0 late in the fourth quarter.

No problem!

Tebow threw for a TD to Demaryius Thomas. Score: 10-7

THEN he lead the Broncos j-u-s-t across midfield from which Matt Prater tried--and made--a 59-yard field goal to tie it a 10 as time ran out.

The Bears got the opening kickoff in the OT period and marched down the field. While in field goal range on the Denver 34 (Robbie Gould had already made a 57-yarder), Marion Barber fumbled and Denver recovered.

Tebow and the Broncos moved up field and eventually stopped at the Chicago 33-yard line. Prater came on and kicked a 51-yarder--a chip shot--for the win.

The kid who can't do anything has now lead his team to a 7-1 record in the eight games he has started. Today he was 21 of 40 for 236 yards and a TD. He also lead the team in rushing with 49 yards on 12 carries.

Four of the seven wins came on the last play of the game. Three were in OT (@Miami 18-15, @San Diego 16-13 and now at home vs Chicago 13-10). The 38-35 win against the Vikings came on a Prater field goal as time ran out, too. The 17-13 win over the Jets was a come from behind in the fourth quarter affair, too. They beat the Jets with a 20-yard touchdown run with 58 seconds--by Tim Tebow.

Less spectacular were the 38-24 win at Oakland (although the last 14 points came in the fourth quarter) and the 17-10 win at Kansas City (they actually lead that game going into the fourth quarter 10-7).

Denver, after starting the season 1-4, now leads the AFC West with a 8-5 record.

Right now, with Tebow and Prater, the Broncos are a tough foe. Especially since it seems they're getting some help from The Big Guy Upstairs.

PA Hunting: Days10-13: Thur, Fri, Sat.

2011-12-11T18:14:00.003-05:00

The Wednesday snow meant I had to clean up on Thursday, which I did and then relaxed for the afternoon. With a dump truck in the ditch just up the hill and the attendant noise associated with getting it out and moving, I didn't feel I missed much going up the hill.

I heard no shots fired anywhere near the Aerie Thursday afternoon...or all day Friday. I did take a bit of a walk Friday and saw just one set of deer tracks made sometime during the night. Those tracks passed up the logging road and on out the southwest end of the property. With no other signs I was discouraged enough not to go out on Saturday--the last day of the rifle season.

Apparently, no one else saw anything either. There were no shots fired anywhere near on Saturday.

The season ended with a whimper and not a bang.

So, of course, this evening--the day after the season ended and a Sunday when PA doesn't allow hunting and after dark when hunting is not allowed--I stepped out on the deck and heard/saw at least four deer coming down the hill and crossing the road. I'm telling you, deer can read the compendium, the calender, and the clock.

A visual on relative earthquake strengths

2011-12-11T13:59:00.003-05:00

If you've ever listened to the talking heads on TV, when reporting on earthquakes, speak of the exponential nature of the Richter Scale but had difficulty wrapping your head around the concept, this might help:

(There's no sound to distract you from the numbers and graphics.)

(Saw the link first at hellinahandbasket.net by James R. Rummel)

Hey! We're #1!

2011-12-09T12:03:00.003-05:00

Tioga County tops bear harvest

Bears were harvested in 54 of the state's 67 counties. The leading counties in the state for the total bear harvest are Tioga, 343; Potter, 327 and Lycoming, 291, according to the Game Commission website.

(Could explain why a lot of hunters in Tioga haven't seen many deer this fall.)

State-wide there have been some impressively sized bruins taken:

Eighty-one bears were reported weighing 500 pounds or more, with the top 10 bears processed all having estimated live weights that exceeded 678 pounds. The largest bear harvested had an estimated live weight of 767 pounds.

(from the Williamsport Sun Gazette)

Someone alert Paula Dean!

2011-12-09T11:42:00.002-05:00

Norway needs butter now
High-fat diet craze leaves Norwegians starved of butter

Norwegians have eaten up the country’s entire stockpile of butter, partly as the result of a “low-carb” diet sweeping the Nordic nation which emphasizes a higher intake of fats.

“Sales all of a sudden just soared, 20 per cent in October then 30 per cent in November,” said Lars Galtung, the head of communications at TINE, the country’s biggest farmer-owned cooperative.

It's all about the buttah!

Snow Report from the Aerie,December 8, 2011

2011-12-08T08:18:00.004-05:00

We've gotten 7-8 inches of white stuff on the ground and it's 29 degrees this morning. The official reading down in Covington is just 4 inches, but they are down in the Route 15 valley some 700 feet or more below our location. This one doesn't look like it'll melt away like the last two 3-inch falls. Time to get the shovels out and fire up the tractor.

The good news is that that they say it will be getting sunny later in the day. Warmer, too.

UPDATE: 11:30 AM There was less snow on the ground than I thought. The 7-8 inches were on the deck where cooling from below occurred. On the drive there was more like 4-5 inches. That's too little for the tractor to do much good although I used it anyway to scrape the long stretches. The snow was heavy with moisture, too, so shovel work was tough. I pushed the snow into windrows and then used the tractor from the flank to clear the bulk of the area.

Now the clouds have cleared and the sun is out. The temperature is just above freezing and melting is underway.

PA Hunting: Day 9: A Snow-go kinda day.

2011-12-07T20:46:00.005-05:00

After the early morning fog and rain, the snow started before noon. Initially it was a heavy wet snow since the temperature was around 36 degrees. But as the temperature fell, the snow flakes got smaller but more numerous. Between 2 and 4 PM it was really coming down.

Well, the 1-3 inches has become more like 6 inches. It's currently 9 PM and it's still snowing. Radar maps show this will end around midnight.

I'll be spending the morning moving snow around.