The AfterGlow - Sadly, No

So UT lost this weekend and only half of the outcomes I wanted to see came to pass. Because Missouri will likely lose to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship, there probably won't be a Big 12 team in the Big Game.

So that is two in a row for A&M, but how many times has A&M beaten UT since there first game in 1894? I don't know, but you can find out at the Official UT football fan site. The site gives the dates and scores going back to the first game in 1893 where UT played Dallas U (which is not the University of Dallas). The following year UT won all but one game beating the Austin YMCA twice. UT would go on to win many more games, but here are some of the teams they lost to along the way:

Haskell 0-4 in 1904
University of Chicago 0-68 in 1904
Transylvania 0-6 in 1905
Vanderbilt 0-45 in 1906
Southwestern 9-11 in 1908
Notre Dame 7-30 in 1913
Baylor 3-7 in 1916
Rice 0-13 in 1917
Harvard 7-35 in 1931
Centenary 6-13 in 1932

There have also been stranger opponents defeated such as the Houston Town Team (1897), the Kansas City Medics (1900), and the School for the Deaf (1903).

And if you thought UT (or any team for that matter) got beat bad, check out this score: 222-0 .

Giving thanks...

Though many may be under the impression that this coming week is about turkey vs. ham, cranberry sauce vs. real cranberries or giving thanks that your family doesn't suck vs. giving thanks that this holiday is only one day; it's not.

This coming week is about Texas vs. Texas A&M, Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State, and the Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Jets. This week is also about a bunch of other football games. So that we can all remember which games are important enough to watch I offer up this handy schedule

Thanksgiving Day:

Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Jets
CBS
3:15pm
I pick Dallas to win, duh. The Jets have won 2 games and the only reason they aren't last in their division is because Miami hasn't won a game yet.

#11USC vs. #6Arizona State
ESPN
7pm
Americans don't much like monopolies and like most (except those living in southern california), I'm tired of seeing USC. I would like them to go away for a while and join the likes of Notre Dame(2-9), Miami(5-6), and Florida State(7-4).

Friday:

Texas vs. Texas A&M
ABC
2:30pm
The obnoxious Aggies really aren't any good this year, but UT has been inconsistent to say the least.

#19Boise St. vs. #15Hawaii
ESPN2
8pm
This should be a good game simply because Boise St. is in it. If anyone saw them play OU last season or saw them in the 4-OT, 69-67 win over Nevada this season, you know what I'm talking about. Hawaii is one of only two teams left that are undefeated this season and if they run the table, there will be much BCS hand-wringing (like every year).

Arkansas vs. #1LSU
CBS
3:30pm
I don't think this game will be any good, but it's been a strange year. LSU has already lost once and it would be interesting if they lost again.

Saturday:

#20Connecticut vs. #3West Virginia
?
11am
I'm just pissed because W. Virginia is ranked higher than Kansas despite losing to South Florida earlier in the year before all the South Florida hype. West Virginia is in it every year before choking in the final weeks of the season. So nuts to them.

Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State
FSN
2:30pm
This is the Oklahoma version of the one-sided UT, A&M rivalry. One team desperately trying to garner attention over the other like those a-holes in the background of an on-location newscast. The difference being that A&M doesn't have a delusional Dickensian millionaire benefactor. A&M likely has millionaires donating also but probably to their academics rather than something as unimportant (in the grand scheme) as football.

#4Missouri vs. #2Kansas
ABC
7pm
This is the WTF game of the year. Who'd a thought these two would be this good and Nebraska would be so bad. I'm hoping Kansas wins just to fuck with the BCS standings. If they run the table and beat Missouri this week and (probably) Oklahoma the following week, will they get to play in the big game? Who knows. Its just as likely we'll see Ohio State and LSU which would be repeat of last year's blowout.

The Neglected

So here is how it goes: you are tired from the day and just don't feel like unpacking that last box or you just don't have anything new to say to that pen pal from Kuala Lumpur. You'll do it tomorrow you say. But you don't do it tomorrow. You don't unpack the day after or the day after that. Soon its been a month and your pen pal has heard nothing.

Was there a military coup in the US, they wonder?
Maybe my friend from America was taken by a UFO like my Canadian girlfriend was. Maybe both.

Sadly, no. You aren't under house arrest by Kang or Kodos, it's simply that so much time has passed that the box has become a symbol of shame and the letter admonishes you as if it were alive like a character in the Brave Little Toaster.

Like the time you missed seeing Mr. T at the mall, you know you'll regret it if you continue to ignore your conscience. But you do it anyway and more time passes and then it comes to a breaking point.

You ask yourself, do you really want to be one of those people who just moves a box of crap from one residence to another; do you really want to let your pen pal, who could be washed away in a tidal wave at any time, believe that you have forgotten to write back. I thought you wanted to contradict what the international community thought of Americans.

So you suck it up and you unpack that box of sex toys, you write back to your Malaysian friend a lengthy treatise on the many types of sex toys and you finally get back to posting about your dogs on your neglected blog.

Yesterday was Oscar and Felixs' birthday. They are now two years old. Here is what they looked like back then. They haven't had much of an Autumn to speak of. I'm at work, M is at school. After five, I'm cleaning film for TAMI, or helping organize the Archivists of Central Texas regional association and M is still at school.

When I am home and its not dark, we play fetch in the backyard. That is there new favorite activity. I throw the ball and Felix will bring it back, then he'll go long and Oscar will stand in front of me and stare at the ball. The result is that Felix is always downfield when I throw the ball and thus he always gets it. It didn't work that way in Albany because there was always enough room for the much faster Oscar to make up time. So here I have to be strategic and fool Felix into going one way while I throw the ball the other so Oscar can occasionally get the ball. And what does he do when he gets it. He goes over to Felix and literally shoves the ball in Felix's face like the gracious winner he is.

In other birthday news, M and I are blowing off a party, seeing some old friends, and Gaelic Storm (h/t to Uncle Joe) to spend the weekend in north Texas to attend my niece's birthday party. She's turning 1. She's lucky she's cute.

Now that we've confronted our shame, we promise to have more content in the future...publish or perish.