Monday Night Short Post

Going to make this quick here on Halloween night...

-I alluded to it last night, as Jared and Sarah showed their artistic ability in carving the Penn State Alumni Association logo (the pozniak) into some pumpkins. Of course, I'm having trouble actually posting this pictures to the website, and thus you can't see it. Therefore, just take my word for it that they did an excellent job with the pumpkin carving.

- National Basketball Association Opening Night tomorrow night! I usually don't get overly excited for NBA until after football winds down, but I am pumped to see what the Sixers can do this year. Great to have Mo Cheeks as the head coach since he is the fan favorite. Let's hope that Allen Iverson can have a solid season and Chris Webber can stay healthy. I think the Sixers have a great lineup on paper, but as they say, a lot of things would be different if the game was actually played on paper.

- Laguna Beach update: How about LC coming out of her shell and giving Jason an earful after that little escapade with Jessica at the fashion show? She used to be real quiet and reserved, but she lashed out at him pretty well. And I'd say he deserved it. What's with this guy? Honestly, this season of Laguna may have single-handedly killed Jason's reputation in life. I'm not kidding. Wherever he goes, he'll be known as the "asshole from Laguna Beach Season 2". In fact, he may have a spot saved for him on the All-Asshole Team of Reality/Drama TV history. By the way, only 2 episodes left in the season.

- Halloween today, and although it doesn't really mean a whole lot anymore (no dressing up for Halloween parties or anything of the like), I'm looking forward to the abundant amount of candy that is bound to be in the office tomorrow. I'll be wired on Reese's Cups and 3 Musketeers tomorrow for sure.

That's all I have for tonight. Hey it's November, shouldn't Wyclef be coming back soon? (that joke never gets old)

Weekend Recap: PSU Homecoming Edition

Back after the weekend in State College, PA. Very enjoyable 3 days in the Happy Valley and it was nice to hang out or even just run into so many people. In news relating to the Ross Press Release, I am extremely pleased to hear all of the positive feedback that the readers gave me. I had several people say, "Hey I've been reading your blog and it's great...love the writing!" Don't mean to toot my own horn, but just wanted to pass on my thank you for all of the kind words. Like I always say, I just keep this thing going because I have a whole lot of nonsense to ramble off, and what better place to put it than on the internet.

Now, weekend recap. Headed up to the Penn State on Thursday night and have to say that with the construction work on I-80 being complete in the eastern half of Pennsylvania, it makes the ride a hell of a lot smoother. Got there in about 4 hours flat. Had to prepare ourselves for a long day at Cafe 210 on Friday.

So sure enough, we were in the idiots in line at Cafe 210 on Friday morning at approximately 9:45am. We stood in line until 11am when they let us in and we were able to secure prime seating for the Parade. It's a good thing we were prepared with several layers of clothing and several hot drinks in us. Regardless, when you are sitting outside all day, it does take a toll on you after many hours. I was frozen and tired by the end of Friday. Either way, still made my promised appearance at Guard the Lion Shrine, and I must that it was a very well-run event. (I would expect no less!) Special RPR shout-outs to 4 generations of The Buddy Fam: Lindsay, Bryant, and MK.

Saturday: Game Day. After a short walk around the downtown, we made the familiar trek up to Beaver Stadium. Wasn't sure what to expect, as this was my first time sitting in the alumni section. We all know that the student section has a certain atmosphere about it. Not to discount the alumni, but it has to be agreed upon that the students have more energy and tend to be a little (or a lot) louder. That being said, our tickets were in the newer section (above the South Endzone) and we were in the absolute last row. Bad news: The wind blows like ridiculous up there. Good news: Excellent birds eye view of the game. Regardless of where the seats were, it was great being in the stadium. The folks in our section were rather mellow. They didn't seem to be too excited at any given point, and I noticed an older demographic. It was brought up by someone on Saturday night (can't remember who) that they should have certain alumni sections for recent alumni. Have specific sections for people who graduated less than 10 years ago. And then other sections for people who graduated between 10-15 years ago, and so on. I think it'd make things more interesting, and bring back the atmosphere that you were used to in the student section. At the very least, you wouldn't be disappointed with the older alumni who act the same way at the football game as they do when they sit in a religious service. Just my two cents...

Back to the game...Penn State played a rather conservative game plan, but it was good enough to beat Purdue, 33-15. PSU is now 5-1 in the Big Ten, 8-1 overall. Now ranked 10th in the AP Poll. Most importantly, brings up a huge matchup next week at home vs. Wisconsin. Since PSU and Wisconsin are both tied atop the Big Ten at 5-1 conference record, this game could essential decide the Big Ten champion. Definitely looking forward to the matchup next Saturday.

Saturday night, the mission was to go to the Skellar. The Skellar was always one of my favorite establishments at the Penn State, and I definitely liked the new and improved crowd control measures they put in place. Let's face it: in the past, it was nice that they would let everyone inside, but then it would be unbearably crowded to the point of not being fun. Instead, they had a bit of line outside, but once you got in, it wasn't wall to wall people. I enjoyed the band, and also enjoyed the $3.50 Guinness pints. Can't get that in New York City, that's for sure. After closing down the bar at 2am, we positioned ourselves on the corner of College Ave and Pugh Street and checked out all of the crazy Halloweeners. I have to give the current PSU student population credit for some excellent creativity in the costume department. I'm not sure that I can even begin to describe some of the get-ups that I witnessed...

It should also be noted that Jessica and I made it to brunch at East Halls with my sister and her roommate on Sunday morning, for nostalga purposes. Ah, brings back the memories.

Other shout-outs from the weekend:
-Ellen, for booking the hotel room one year in advance. Excellent work!
-The crazy cab drivers throughout the weekend. Especially the one guy who came to State College from Tulsa, OK, and may have been drunk/high on Saturday morning when he drove us downtown.
-That 35 year old guy who we seemed to run into everywhere throughout the weekend. Although someone saw proof of his age, we're still not sure that he's really 35.
-The student who pulled the "I'm Pre-Med and I'm going to be a Dermatologist some day" routine when hitting on Jessica in the Rathskellar.
-Jessica, for nonchalantly blowing off the "Future Dermatologist". (I watched the whole thing from about a foot away. It was rather humorous. If the kid had kept talking for another 10 seconds I would have jumped in with some smart ass remark.)

Overall, it was an excellent weekend. The Happy Valley truly is a great place and it's always wonderful to hang out with friends and see a handful of familiar faces.

(Side note to Jared: I was having trouble posting the Nittany Lion pumpkin carving pictures. I'll give it another shot tomorrow to see if I can get them on the site. For some reason, it doesn't want to take.)

Back tomorrow night...

It's the Middle of the Week, But It's Time for the Weekend Preview

This is becoming an annual tradition: Late October, set a vacation day aside for Penn State Homecoming. Take that long trek about 250 miles west (most of it on the luxurious I-80) and enjoy a weekend in Happy Valley. Here's the plan, folks: Driving up on Thursday night with the Jessica. Look for me Friday morning around 11am at Cafe 210 West so that the prime seating can be reserved for the Homecoming Parade. I'm sure we'll freeze our asses off all day. For my Lion Ambassador readers out there, I'm gonna stop by the Lion Shrine for sure. Saturday is gameday, although not sure what we'll do before the game. Possibly walk around downtown and then make the trek up to the stadium area. Saturday night, I'll be somewhere around town (I'd like to check out that newer bar on Allen Street....Pickles, I think it's called. Is it any good?) I need to squeeze in a visit with my sister, Jamie, but she's pretty damn busy (let's hear it for sorority life!) Overall, should be a good weekend.

Other news: If you like Modest Mouse, definitely check out Wolf Parade's new album, Apologies to the Queen Mary. Wolf Parade has the Modest Mouse style going, but not so much where you listen to it and feel like they're just ripping them off. The music keeps your interest and they created an overall solid record. For what it's worth, it's gotten some decent reviews around the music community. Recommended songs: "Shine a Light" and "You are a Runner and I am my Father's Son".

Another piece of music news: In case you haven't seen this, Infinity Broadcasting is changing formats of nearly all of their radio stations across the country. The change comes right around the time that Howard Stern leaves Infinity to go over to Sirius Satellite Radio. Not sure I understand the reason for the format change, since many of the stations will become free-form talk stations, and a "music mix" format during the weekends. 92.3 WXRK in New York and 94.1 WYSP in Philadelphia are great stations that I listen to all the time and just like many other favorite radio stations of mine in the past, come January, they will cease to exist. It's a shame the direction that terrestrial radio is taking, as it's becoming increasingly difficult to find decent music on the radio, let alone rock 'n roll music. I may have to consider investing in satellite because even I'm becoming fed up with what's on the good 'ole fashion dial. Let's face it, I may be stuck listening to David Lee Roth every morning. The listeners on the West Coast get Adam Carolla at least.

As I'm typing, the Chicago White Sox win the 2005 World Series! I'm not sure what's more disappointing... (a) that this White Sox team will go down as one of baseball's lackluster champions; (b) that this year's World Series may also go down as being extremely anti-climactic...I mean honestly, in 5 years, many people may not remember that the Chicago White Sox were World Champions in 2005; or (c) that Chicago, which loves their Cubbies, sees a Sox championship first and is still not sure when the Cubs will pull through.

That's all I have for you. Back after the weekend with a wrap up. Enjoy

Real Quick

Sorry to be lame again, but not much of a post tonight. Must get up early tomorrow for a meeting, so I gotta keep it short.

I spoke with Brian tonight and he's down in Baton Rouge, LA, for work. Who would have thought that a consulting job would take him down to Louisiana to help with the hurricane relief effort? He's been there for a few weeks so far and said you can't even imagine the things he's seen and heard. He was down in New Orleans for a few days and he said it doesn't look as bad as it did a few weeks back, because a lot of the streets that were under water have since dried out. Of course, saying it doesn't look as bad is a relative statement. I won't steal his thunder since he agreed to send a report in a few days with some of better stories from the experience. I feel like CNN...I have a reporter of my own currently stationed in Louisiana!

I'll stop by tomorrow night for sure to give the preview of the Penn State Homecoming Weekend. Definitely looking forward to the craziness that I now only get to experience once or twice per calendar year. I'll be heading out west on I-80 on Thursday night (taking Friday off from work!), so I'll be sure to set aside some time to write tomorrow night.

Enjoy the Wednesday.

Did Everyone Think I Got Lost?

Contrary to popular belief, I have not disappeared. My life completely revolved around work last week and I just didn't have any time to check in. I was in the office a ridiculous number of hours, and believe me, it wasn't fun. My apologies to anyone who was truly disappointed. This week looks to be a lot better, so I should have more time to write some new material on the RPR. Let's catch up...

Let's hear it for helping out the community: Thanks to our good samaritan Jessica, a bunch of us signed up for New York Cares Day on Saturday. This is a city-wide service event with groups of volunteers helping out in schools and other places across NYC. Our group ended at a public high school on the Upper West Side, and it could have been a lot worse (how great of a story would it have been if we went to a school in the Bronx...now that's be something to talk about. The instructions would have included wearing comfortable clothes, bringing a few dollars for lunch, and a bulletproof vest.). We had read something that said we'd be painting murals around the "scanners" and when you think about what the "scanners" are, you realize that it's a nice synonym of "metal detector". Sure enough, our task for the day was to paint some murals.

We worked with some artist named Zoe. We were all convinced that she was too old to really be a Zoe, and apparently when she pulled out her credit card to smooth the tape that was used as a border from one color to another, someone caught that her real name was Ruth. Let's face it: only high society babies and little teacup dogs are really named Zoe. Regardless, this lady was nuts. She thought that we were all professional painters, when in fact, not many people in our group had even the slightest bit of artistic ability. Eric and I ended up working with 2 other guys on the simple mural...it was two colors: red and blue. We thought, "Great, we can't screw it up." Sure enough, we almost screwed it up on several occasions, but at the end of the day, it turned out pretty damn good. Also, it warrants mentioning that the girls did a hell of a job on their American flag mural. Nice work, ladies.

Saturday night, Penn State game. After that first Illinois possession, where they drove down the field for 3 pts, we were a little concerned. When it was 28-3 after the first quarter, we felt a little more comfortable, and when it was 56-3 at halftime, the only concern was how we were to go about finishing the three pizzas we had ordered. Let's hear it for Michael Robinson: 4 TD passes and 2 TD runs in the 1st half. His numbers from only 1 half of play are absolutely staggering, and he definitely deserved to rest during the 2nd half. Not much else to say about the game: after last week's heartbreaker, they needed to beat up on Illinois, and they did just that. Now, gotta gear up for the Homecoming game vs. Purdue (The Ross will be in attendance!)

Allow me to make a few comments on the Eagles game from Sunday. First off, I'd like to thank the geniuses with the NFL for their "contractual obligation to switch to the game in the home market" at exactly 4:15pm. The voice-over should have just stated, "We don't care that the game you are watching is coming down to the wire. You are in the New York metro area and that means we have to switch over to the start of the damn Giants game. And by the way, you'll miss a great ending to the Eagles game, where a guy blocked a field goal and another player returned it 65 yds for a touchdown with 2 minutes left. But it's ok, you caught the very beginning of the Giants game and didn't really need to see the end of the great Eagles game. Love, the National Football League and CBS television." No, I'm not bitter.

It seems like they have "Philly" Cheesesteaks every Monday at work, and every Monday, one of my co-workers gets it. And every Monday, I make the same comment. I tell them, "You don't know what a real cheesesteak is. You can't get one anywhere outside of Philadelphia." They never listen to me. With that being said, I really have a craving for a good cheesesteak since I've been unable to grab one on my recent quick trips home. Anyone in the Philadelphia area want to send me a cheesesteak wit wiz, onions, and mushrooms from Jim's?

Things that piss me off recently: (a)The voicemail that I get every few days on my cell phone from some credit card company. This has been going on for about 2 years now. (b) The lady who keeps leaving messages on my answering machine, once a week, in Spanish. Senorita, I believe you have el numero incorrecto. (c) See the item above about CBS cutting off the Eagles game. (d) When you think that TV shows are on at a certain time, and you make an effort to sit down in front of the tube right when it's supposed to start, and then find out that it's not on. There isn't much more of a bummer than that.

A heads up for my long-time readers out there....I am planning on getting a haircut tomorrow, and may have another run-in with Yolanda. Stay tuned for the latest episode of "Ross Goes to the Barbershop to get Ripped Off by a Recovering Alcoholic".

So let me get this straight....Brian Austin Green and Neil Patrick Harris are both back on TV and in new sitcoms? Is this 2005 or 1993? And is it mandatory to have the 3 names when you're an actor? Someone needs to clue me in on these things.

This is a good poll question that's come up in conversation lately... If you were to open up your own bar, what would you name it? Please post your ideas.

That's it for tonight...I'll be back tomorrow night kids.

Blog Update

Work is absolutely ridiculous this week, so, unfortunately, not too much time to write on the RPR. Honestly, when you're at work for 13+ hours, the last thing I really want to do is sit in front of the computer.

Odds are good that I'll probably be working late on Thursday as well, so not sure if we'll get any form of a significant update for at least a few days (possibly not until Sunday, as I'll be in the NYC this weekend.)

Just wanted to give the update and apologize to my crowd who enjoys the daily postings, especially during the work week. Don't mean to let anyone down.

Gotta get some sleep...the next thing I know, I'll be back at work. Should have just brought a sleeping bag and stayed there overnight. Oh well, such is life...

Monday Night Comments of the short variety

Hey it's Monday night, and Monday nights are always good for rattling off a few comments that linger in my mind...

- Over the weekend I was at the Target, and we all love Target. You know what was one of my purchase items? Beef Jerky. That's right, I bought beef jerky, which could quite possibly be one of the manliest of manly snacks. I mean, come on, it's dried meat. How could you not love it? Truth of the matter is that I just had a craving for it and decided that it'd be a good investment for $3.97. Additionally, it should be noted that besides an above-average sodium content, it's really not that bad for you. Slim Jim's, on the other hand, have all sorts of junk in them, and are pretty bad for you. I go for the real stuff... the real, all natural beef jerky. (I apologize if I made anyone vomit while reading this paragraph.)

- New music worth checking out: The Magic Numbers - Self Titled Album. This group is made up of 2 brother/sister combos from Britain and they play some fun, 60's style rock n roll. Some of it leans toward the pop side, and some leans towards the roots, an even a little bit toward new wave. This guys are huge on the other side of the pond, and hopefully will make it big over here as well. (After they become the next "in" band, you'll think of me). Favorite song: "Forever Lost"

- One of my co-workers mentioned today at lunch that Sly Stallone is coming back to do "Rocky 6". My comment was, "Who's he gonna fight? George Foreman?"

- Haven't talked about Laguna Beach lately, but after watching this evening's episode, I can't help but comment. First off, LC loses some major points for this little stint with Jason. I mean, honestly. This guy is gonna play her like a guitar. Portion of the episode that may have gone way off the Unintentional Comedy Scale was their date. First off, when he picks her up in that classic car or whatever it was, it looked like a go kart. Then, as they are sitting at dinner, the conversation went nowhere. If it went any farther nowhere, it would have been going backwards. Here's the transcript of their conversation:

Jason: You look really cute tonight.
LC: (Giggle) Thanks! You're sweet.
Jason: (Smile)
LC: (Smile) (Giggle) I have fun with you.
Jason: (Smile/Stupid Grin) Me too. Omigod, that was the cutest thing ever.
LC: What was?
Jason: What you just did.
LC: (Smile) (Giggle) (Batting eyelashes)

You can't make this stuff up. Have I mentioned before how much this show cracks me up?

I'll check back later on. Have good Tuesdaying.

The Loss That Felt Like a Stomach Punch

Philadelphia Phillies' great Mike Schmidt once said, "Only in Philadelphia can you experience the thrill of victory one day and the agony of reading about it the next." Well, after Penn State's last second loss on Saturday, I'm going to change this quote around a little bit. Only in football can you experience the apparent thrill of victory at one moment and the agony of defeat 50 seconds later.

I was looking for the Bill Simmons article about the 13 Levels of Losing, where he defines the various levels of defeat by correlating them to famous games in the past, however I was unsuccessful in accessing the article (Way to go, ESPN.com, for putting all of Bill's old articles in ESPN Insider, which I refuse to pay for). Anyway, the category that comes to mind is the "Stomach Punch" loss, because that's exactly what it felt like when Michigan WR Mario Manningham caught that ball on the last play of the game. I mean, honestly, how else can you describe it? We can sit here and argue about the game all we want... about how those 2 seconds that Lloyd Carr pleaded for actually made a difference. How the decision to kick the ball directly to Steve Breaston gave them the opportunity for decent field position, when a squib kick to a lineman would have pinned them back further. How the defense played a little more cautiously and was in "touchdown prevention" mode on that last drive. Even with how great the first 6 wins were, this one loss stings pretty badly. We all wanted to see the Nittany Lions win in Ann Arbor for the first time in 9 years...and they were so damn close. Soooo close.

The team can regroup and come back strong in facing a seemingly easier opponent next week when they travel to Urbana-Champaign to take on Illinois. But the loss on Saturday proved to be even more costly as freshman sensation, Derrick Williams, broke his arm in a 4th quarter kickoff return and is now done for the year. Definitely a bad break (unintended pun) for the team as this kid was something special, and provided a spark that the offense hasn't seen since the days of Larry Johnson a few years ago. Just means that everyone else has to step it up a notch.

Not sure what else to say about the game. What started off as a slow game, had about as an exciting of a finish as you can get, just a shame that PSU couldn't come out on top. They are still in decent shape in the Big Ten, but have to finish the last 4 games very strong.

In the other news, the weekend was pretty calm as the Jessica paid a visit to the Stamford. We hung out and relaxed for the most part, ran some errands, watched the television...you know, lazy weekend stuff. Finally got ahold of Entourage, Volume 1, Disc 2 from the Blockbuster, so we're now all caught up on Season 1. I did some research and found out that HBO is re-airing Season 2 in just a couple of weeks, so I can continue catching up. I have to say that it's an absolutely excellent show. Great writing, great acting, love the subplots, the celeb cameos, and of course, Jeremy Piven's character. Again, not sure how it took me this long to get into the show, especially since every person who watches it was saying how great it was from Day 1.

Not much else to report on from the weekend. For now, I'm gonna pack it in. Even though it's Monday, enjoy it the best you can.

Thursday Edition

Hey I'm back after the wonderful Yom Kippur holiday, where it's anything but a holiday. I have to say that the fasting may have been the easiest today than it has been in prior years, yet I'm not sure why. Let's face it: I love to eat. I'm always hungry and my metabolism is holding its own, at least for the time being. However, when you go 24 hours without eating and you know you can't have anything, it really doesn't end up being that bad.

Here's what you do: Have a decent meal (preferably made by the Jessica) the night before and eat it as close to sundown as you can (those are the rules of the game). Then, go to bed at a decent time and wake up when you have to. For this holiday, you end up sitting in services for several hours, so just try to focus on the task at hand rather than your empty stomach. Then, when you come home in the afternoon, again, just keep yourself occupied. For me, I did some work in the afternoon, just so I didn't fall too far behind. Although I probably shouldn't have done the work, I guess you have to make some sacrifices. Any case, then the next thing you know, it's like 6pm or so, and sundown is upon you. That's it...congratulations, you're done. At the finish line, you can consume a heavy carb meal with several bagels, some soup, and all sorts of good stuff (once again, preferably made by the Jessica). I felt like I didn't skip a beat, and avoided having a lawsuit being filed against me by my stomach.

Forgot to mention that last weekend we saw Proof with Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, and Jake Gylenhaal. In case you haven't seen the preview, here's the premise: Hopkins plays a college math professor who has come up with all of these innovations in modern mathematics, but then he goes psycho. Gwyneth plays his daughter and there's concern that she going crazy as well. Jake Gylenhaal plays a potential love interest for Gwyneth and a student of Anthony Hopkins'. He finds some unbelievable work proving some mathematical theories that Hopkins left behind, but then they aren't sure if it's his work or Gwyneth's work. I won't give away the ending. Anyway, the movie was alright. I think its strong points were the acting. All 3 main characters played their roles very well and that's definitely worth mentioning. However, the plot didn't really do it for me and it never gets you on the edge of your chair. By the time it ends, you don't care what the outcome is and the movie doesn't even tie up the loose ends. Ross Recommendation: Don't bother unless you're a big fan of any of the actors, or there's absolutely nothing else you want to see.

File this one under "The Vegas Odds Makers Don't Know Their Ass From Their Elbow": So, Penn State, now ranked #8 in the nation with their 6-0 record visit Michigan this weekend. We all know that the Nittany Lions typically have a tough time in Ann Arbor, not having won there since 1996, but PSU is a lot better this year and Michigan seems to be a lot worse (they aren't even ranked at the present time). With that being said, Vegas has made Penn State a 3.5 point underdog for Saturday's game! Someone please explain this to me. How can an unranked team be favored against a Top10 team in the nation? Either Vegas still doesn't believe Penn State is for real, or they really don't like the Lions chances in the Big House. As always, we'll see what happens on Saturday at 3:30pm.

That's all I have for tonight. I'll check in at some point during the weekend...

This will provide a few laughs

I promised myself I'd go to bed early tonight, and so I am. However, wanted to post this link before I forgot about and before it disappears. These two guys had a contest of who could make a shittier mixtape. The loser had to carry a big boombox around New York City, blasting the music from the shittiest mix tape. The guy who loses, Aziz Ansari, was just featured in Rolling Stone as being "The Hot Standup Comedian" and has already won this year's Best Male Stand-up at the Emerging Comics of New York awards. This is enough hype for me to want to catch this guy live. Anyway, here's the Shittiest Mix Tape link.

Sorry for the short post, but I gotta catch some zzzz....

Monday Night Ramblings

Monday night and a few things on hand.

- First off, please allow me to express my excitement that the Yankees lost this evening and are now out of the playoffs. Honestly, it just doesn't make baseball any more exciting to have the same team win year after year (or at least be in contention to win). And besides, when you're in this New York metro area, you get sick of hearing about the Yankees real quick.

- Secondly, thank you to everyone who wrote in with their comments about the Penn State game this past weekend. Seems like it was an absolutely unreal experience, and I definitely look forward to coming up to Happy Valley in a few weeks for the Homecoming game vs. Purdue.

- So I have this 80's mix that I made for the car, and it's basically about 30 songs from the 80's that I put on a pair of CD's. One of the songs is "Africa" by Toto, which is just a great song in my opinion. While listening to the song, I realized that they have one of the most unique lines out of any song ever written. Right before the last chorus, it goes, "I know that I must do what's right/Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti". Honestly, when would you ever expect to hear these words grouped together? When they were writing the song, did one of the band members think, "How can we work Kilimanjaro, Olympus, and the Serengeti into the song? In fact, how can we work it into one line?" Yes, these are the things that I wonder about...

- Speaking of 80's music, I also wonder if David Lee Roth ever said to Sammy Hagar, "You know, if it wasn't for 'Right Now', you're experience with Van Halen would have basically been worthless..."

- Here's something that I never know how to deal with... when you're driving on a dark road and the jerk behind you has the brights on. Now, if the person is coming toward you, you can flick the lights to notify them. But when the idiot is behind you, there's nothing you can do. Well, scratch that. You could always pull over, let them pass you, then follow them with your brights on. That'll really get 'em. How can you not realize that your bright lights are on and that there's someone in front of you who is being blinded? Add this to the list of things that piss me off.

That's all for tonight. Back tomorrow.

Happy Valley...Happy Again

Let's face it....the big story of the weekend was the Penn State Nittany Lions proving to everyone that they are for real, after beating Ohio State, 17-10, on Saturday night. Many people thought the wins at the beginning of the season were expected since they played a bunch of cupcake teams. Then, many people wanted to see how they'd do in their first real test last weekend against Minnesota. Well, they made it pretty clear then. Still, many of the dissenters in the media would not claim Penn State as being for real this season until they beat Ohio State, the #6 ranked team in the nation. So, the Lions made it easy for all of the naysayers...they went out and beat Ohio State in a hard-nosed, tough game. Seemed like the perfect atmosphere: 48 degress and rainy at kickoff, and 109,000 fans in the stadium, with the entire student section wearing white. Looked pretty damn good to me.

The defense played tough - they got the big stops when they needed them and didn't let Ohio State dictate the pace of the game. And while Ohio State's defense isn't too shabby either, Penn State's offense did just a good enough job to keep them on top. Plus, this was the type of game where turnovers would play a big factor, and the 2nd quarter interception by Calvin Lowry which set up a touchdown, along with the Tamba Hali forced fumble at the end of the game, would prove to swing the game in Penn State's favor.

So now PSU has a 6-0 record and are ranked 8th in the nation in the Associated Press poll, and have another test coming up this week when they travel to Michigan. Although the Wolverines aren't nearly as good as they've been in previous years, they always seem to give the Nittany Lions a solid game, and so I wouldn't write this next game off as a win just yet. However, if PSU continues to play as well as they have, it's tough to see anyone beating them anytime soon.

I'm interested to hear from people who witnessed the 2002 contest vs. Nebraska and the game on Saturday night against Ohio State. Many would say they are the most intense games in recent history to be played at Beaver Stadium, and since I wasn't at the game this weekend, I'd like to hear from those who were. How do the games compare? Which game's fans were crazier?

In the words of Andy Franson, "I cried when Penn State won. It was beautiful."

[Side note: I'm going to refrain from commenting on the horrendous Eagles loss today. They looked awful and I'm not really sure where they went wrong, yet they succeeded in making the Cowboys look like the '85 Bears. We'll just bask in the glory of Penn State's success for now.]

Back tomorrow with some more...

I'm Gonna Make This Real Quick

I was too busy procrastinating tonight, so I apologize that you all are left with a smaller post as a result. Had to get the week's football picks in to Jared. Had to pack for the weekend. And U2 is on Conan O'Brien, both performing and interviewing.

- Game of the week: #16 Penn State vs. #6 Ohio State. In the words of Barry Melrose (the man who single-handedly saved the mullet), "Oh. Baby." College GameDay in State College. ESPN 2's Cold Pizza in State College. Primetime game. They have close to 50 tents out there since Wednesday and it reminds me of the 2002 matchup vs. Nebraska (best PSU game I saw in person). Let's hope the Nittany Lions can pull it out. If not, Andy Franson wants me to remind everyone that we're blaming it on Eric Steinberg.

- So Katie Holmes is pregnant with Tom Cruise's baby? Do they have Scientology pre-school for Little TomKat? Would it be funny if they named the kid, Dawson? Will this kid take any publicity away from Britney and Kevin's kid? There are plenty of questions that needing answering.

- I have an early meeting tomorrow, so I'm cutting it short. I'll be in the NYC this weekend, but I'll swing by on Sunday night with the recap. Enjoy your weekend.


Ross is hoping that these two guys will still be smiling after their games this weekend.

Ready, Set, Ramble

Here we are in the middle of this week, and here's what's running through my mind:

- First off, we can file this one under "Things I Just Don't Get About Cable Providers"... I always get pissed off since I just can't get away from the New York sports teams, and rightfully so - I'm in an extended suburb of New York City. But one time I wanted to watch a game involving a New York sports team, I am unable. Case in point, Opening Night for the National Hockey League. Now, I've never claimed to be a huge hockey fan, but I'm legitimately excited for it to be back and I do follow the Flyers to a certain extent. So tonight, they play the New York Rangers, and since ESPN's television contract with the NHL is now defunct, the Outdoor Living Network (OLN) picked up a number of NHL games. One problem: I don't get OLN. So I get the Islanders on the MSG Network and the Devils on Fox Sports Net. But wait, it gets better: I am flipping through all of the crazy number channels because nothing else was on...you know..."let's see what's on channel 638 just to see if it comes in". Sure enough, between channels 420 and 430, I get a free preview of the NHL Center Ice which picks up almost all of the hockey games tonight. I got 7 games at 7:30pm, and another 5 games that started later on the West Coast. Add in the other 2 games I mentioned before on the basic cable and thats 14 games that I could have watched this evening. Let's review...that's 14 games, involving 28 teams in the league. There are 30 teams total, which means that I didn't pick up one game: Flyers/Rangers. What a bunch of crap. I was pissed. And then I got over it when I realized that I could watch 7 games at once, and later when I realized that the Flyers had a 3-2 lead and ended up losing 5-3. Let's just hope my free preview of NHL Center Ice lasts at least another couple of days.

- I'd like to take a poll of all of the readers of Rolling Stone and find out how many actually read the political articles that they run in each issue. I love an article bashing George W. Bush as much as the next guy, but if it were up to me, I'd rather have them run one more article about an up-and-coming band, or another interview with a big name musician. Just my two cents.

- As many of you know, I'm quite a music fanatic. Always up for some good music...pretty much anything in the realm of rock 'n roll. One thing I've noticed though is that I tend to be intimidated by some of the musicians from the 60's and 70's with huge discographies. Example: I was never a huge Bob Dylan fan, but rather a casual Bob Dylan fan. I know his hits, but the extent of my Dylan music knowledge is within the boundaries of those Greatest Hits albums. I always say to myself, "I should really get ahold of some of the other material...the lesser known songs, the b-sides, etc." But then I just don't know where to start. There's simply an over-abundance of Dylan music and I find it difficult to just dive in. Same goes for the Grateful Dead. I enjoy their music, but these guys only played like 10,000 shows and probably have almost as many songs. Ok, so I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea. I know the "American Beauty" era material and many of the hits, but beyond that, I'm not too familiar. I just wonder...where do you dive in? I think I need to just pick one of their tours and begin digging.

Calling it a night. Back tomorrow.

I'm Checking In....Real Quick

Hey, so I wasn't sure if I was going to write tonight or not, but I decided just to check in real quick. Not too much to report on. Took the day off from work today so I could be a good Jew and celebrate the New Year 5766. Some comments for the evening...

- ESPN decided to get their act together and bring College Gameday to Happy Valley on Saturday to broadcast live before all the crazies up at the Penn State. Nice of ESPN to come back to State College for the first time since 1999. Oh wait, the football team wasn't anywhere near being a top contender from the 2000 through 2003 seasons, so the class of 2004 missed out on the excitement. Lucky us...

- Speaking of ESPN, I am enjoying the Bound for Glory show. (Dick Butkus as the coach of a suburban Pittsburgh high school team which is no good, and he tries to turn the team around). They officially have drawn me in, and I'm excited to watch the show every Tuesday night.

- Stupid baseball playoffs have pre-empted Fox from showing House on Tuesday nights until November 1. The only solace would be not having to watch the Yankees for the next 4 weeks, so let's just hope that the Angels can knock them out early and make us all feel better.

- I've decided that ketchup completely ruins hotdogs and hamburgers, and I feel pretty strongly about this. I came to this conclusion last week, but forgot to write about it. Allow me to elaborate. Certain condiments complement food very well. Salsa and tortilla chips. Mustard and soft pretzels (although I'm not a fan). And ketchup on french fries. However, when you add ketchup to a hotdog or a hamburger, it overwhelms the taste of the meat, and all you are tasting is ketchup. It's also important to mention that I never really put an abundant amount of ketchup on them either, so the "overuse of the ketchup" is not a valid argument. I've tried to combat the ketchup by adding more items to the hamburger... in addition to the cheese and lettuce, I've gone with mushrooms, bacon, onion, a little bit of mayo...but yet the ketchup prevails. I'm fed up with it and I will now denounce my usage of ketchup on hamburgers. I may continue the use on the hotdogs, but unless the hamburger is a little on the dry side, don't pass the Heinz my way. Just thought I'd let everyone know. Thank you.

- That's about it for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow night to provide some more entertainment in the form of my nonsense, because that's what I do.

The Weekend Recap (Home Edition)

As mentioned before, I went home to the Philadelphia area this weekend to visit the parents, and it was nice to see them. It's quiet in the house these days since I'm not there and now that Jamie is up at the Penn State...but it's fun to go back every 6 weeks or so and check in.

This will be an abbreviated weekend recap since I didn't do all that much. Of course, much of my fall weekends are based around the football, so I must provide my commentary on the Penn State game from Saturday afternoon. Well, let me first admit that I didn't see that one coming. I tend to be a pessimist and was even quoted last week as saying that based on the way they played against Northwestern, they didn't stand a chance against Minnesota. My conclusion during the week was that the only way the Lions could pull off a win over the Gophers was to play a solid 60 minutes of football without too many turnovers. Well, PSU turned in one hell of a performance. Defense looked ridiculous....constant pressure, stopped the pass, and especially, stopped the run (Maroney was a non-factor). Offense played very well....Michael Robinson had some very nice runs, and some excellent passes. And it's also worth mentioning that the play calling on offense by coordinator Galen Hall was actually pretty good. (This is a rarity.) The team took advantage of Minnesota's mistakes and made them pay for it. There aren't many negatives I can mention when the team wins 44-14 against a tough opponent (or maybe Minnesota wasn't as tough as we thought). But now, the real challenge is next weekend at home vs. Ohio State, who has had PSU's number over the last few years. This will be a true test of how good this team really is. By the way, the Associated Press must have been impressed, as PSU is now ranked #16 in the country. Not too shabby...

Saturday night, met up with the Jessica, Danielle, Brandon, and Brian, at our favorite spot at home, the Lucky Dog. Not sure what it is about that place...it's just a small restaurant in our home town of Lafayette Hill, but it's very chill, and they have a nice beer selection. Sporting events are always on the TV's, and the staff is usually rather friendly. As an added bonus, it's so close that we always end up there anyway, so that we don't have to make any tough decisions as to where we're going to go. It was great to catch up with Danielle, Brandon, and Brian since I don't see them all that often, and of course, nothing makes me happier than hanging out with the Jessica!

The weekend's always seem like a whirlwind, since I come in on Friday night, and then by Sunday afternoon, I'm back on the road. Got back up here right at 4pm, just in time for the Eagles game. First off, I should mention that the Phillies wild card chances went down to the very last day of the season, and although they did win their game today, Houston won as well and secured the Wild Card spot. I have to give the Phils credit for making it exciting, but it's disappointing at the same time since they had so many chances throughout the season to win games, yet they found ways to lose them. Oh well, my attention is completely with the Eagles anyway. We'll talk about baseball again in March.

So if anyone saw the Eagles game or the highlights, you know that they had a slow start, and I was slightly freaking out after they fell behind 24-6. But somehow they fought back, got their act together, and by the end of the 3rd quarter, the game was tied at 24. Even with all of these injuries, McNabb continues to pull through. Some of his passes are pretty ugly, and it's frustrating to watch him completely miss on some wide open receivers, but I can we expect that to happen with as many passing attempts as he'll have each game. The Eagles go on to score 31 straight points and win it 37-31. Gotta love McNabb's character and another big game from TO. The defense stepped up in the 2nd half as well, which helped to turn the tides. One question is how they scored so many points and moved the ball as well as they did without Brian Westbrook being a factor? Let's just say that the Chiefs' defense won't be the toughest the Eagles will face this season. Now, I'm hoping the Birds will be able to beat up on Dallas next weekend. Looking forward to it.

I probably won't be back until Wednesday as the Jewish New Year is throwing off my rhythm this week. To all of my fellow Jews out there, Happy and Healthy New Year. I'm taking the day off of work on Tuesday to go to services. How exciting....

Enjoy the week. I'll be back soon.