Why Aren't You Watching Friday Night Lights?

Maybe you don't have DirecTV, the only place Season 3 is being shown ... because people like you didn't watch Seasons 1 and 2. And surely, season 2 wasn't up to par of the amazing first year. But I feel like Bill Simmons when people tell me they don't watch:

"Friday Night Lights" is the best sports show in 30 years. It lost its way a little in the second season but came back strong this season. It's a must-watch again. When people tell me they don't watch the show, I get confused the same way I get confused when someone tells me they haven't tried ice cream or drunk a beer.

There are a few great shows on TV now, but clearly at this point, FNL is one of them.

And without spoiling last week's episode, it was truly amazing. If Scott Proctor (Jason Street) doesn't get an Emmy nod, I'm pissed off. Let's just say it got very dusty in the Greebs household last night, and again a bit in my car when I was thinking about it.

I haven't even mentioned Minka Kelly, Adrienne Palicki, Connie Britton or Aimee Teegarden yet.

Seriously, if you haven't done so already, go rent Season 1. You won't be sorry. And then struggle through the beginning of Season 2, and keep your head down, and you really won't be sorry.

This is a great show, and not enough folks know it.

Oh, so very close...

I'm not going to lie ... the reason I didn't send out a "Hey, I could win this!" email earlier today was that I didn't want to tempt fate. But there I was, tied with Brad "Bettis Molests Collies II" Launer for the lead, and I felt confident that Green Bay was going to dominate the Saints in Nawlinz.

Well, congrats to Mr. Launer, because I got that one wrong, big time. For anyone who watched the game (and I only saw part of it), the Saints beat up the Packers and there went my chances for winning a week in my league.

I should call a special shout-out to Paul Boudrett, aka P-Diddy, who was in the hunt as well even though he didn't get his pick submitted for the Thursday games.

Speaking of Thursdays, this one is, of course, Thanksgiving -- and there's THREE games on, at least if you get the NFL Network.

This was one hell of a week in the NFL - featuring 'comeback' games from guys like Terrell Owens and Randy Moss, and a serious fall from grace by Donovan McNabb. Say what you like about McNabb - and he's played awfully in recent weeks - but Andy Reid absolutely blew this one. You don't pull a veteran for a 2nd year QB in the middle of a game (against a top notch defense like the Ravens) who hasn't even taken a first team snap in practice that week. Of course Kevin Kolb didn't fare much better than McNabb.

Worse yet, apparently Reid didn't even show McNabb the courtesy of telling him he was benched himself. That's just not right.

The big news in the NFL was, of course, the previously unbeaten Titans losing to the Jets. It sort of took a loss like this to remember how improbable it would have been before the season for the Titans to start off 10-0, which wasn't much more random than it being the Jets who beat them. Both teams weren't very good last year, but they are the odds on favorite to meet up again in the AFC Championship. The Jets actually are a more complete team than the Titans, even if their defense isn't up to Tennessee's level.

And hey, how about those Raiders? That might have been the most improbable win in the league this season, at least next to the Browns beating the Giants on MNF earlier on. How bad do the Broncos have to feel right now?

Finally, I'll end here talking about the good guys, the 49ers, who really are in a bad place. Specifically, if anyone believes in The Genius Of Mike Martz (besides Martz himself), they aren't paying attention. Martz refuses to appreciate the run, which was bad enough with Marshall Faulk in St. Louis when he had a top notch passing offense and a strong offensive line, but downright criminal when the only legitimate offensive threat is Frank Gore. On the brighter side for the team but not for Martz's reputation, it's clear that Shaun Hill was and is the best QB on the roster, and Martz refused to give him a chance until J.T. O'Sullivan had forced his way out of the role with a litany of bad decisions and turnovers. Dallas certainly looks close to being back to their old self, and if anyone is going to get in the Giants way, it is likely the Cowboys.

It should be a fun string of games to finish out the season, starting with Turkey Day.

Hope you all have a good holiday, and eat lots of turkey and cranberry sauce.

Gas

I just paid 2.03 per gallon to fill up. Three short months ago, I paid 4.40 per gallon.

This economy is pretty weird.

Guest Blog: Cowboys vs. 49ers

An occasional commenter here at Reign of Error, Curtis Edmonds has his own excellent blog over at Northbound. Even a cursory examination of that blog will reveal two things about Mr. Edmonds that put him in stark contrast to myself:

• He's a proud Republican (and a former staffer to GWB in the state of Texas)


• He's a diehard Cowboys fan.

Honestly, I"m not sure what is a worse transgression, but in spite of those foibles, Curtis is a great guy, someone I "met" online a LONG time ago, as we were both early users of Epinions.com. We don't agree about a lot of the big issues, but we still get along.

With the Cowboys sparring off against the 49ers this weekend, we thought it might be useful - to us, if no one else - to do some guest posts on each others blogs. Below is Curtis' entry, and mine will be posted over on his site. Go over there to check that out, and to see what else he's got cooking.

by Curtis Edmonds

Everyone knows that the Dallas Cowboys will defeat the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. You know this, I know this, Vegas knows this. Of course, there aren't any done deals in the National Football League (as everyone who has tried to play survival football this year knows). But for the Cowboys to fall to the Niners in their last Texas Stadium appearance ever? It's not going to happen. You can trust me.

The better question, though, is which franchise deserves to win? Which franchise is better? Both the Cowboys and the Niners boast five Lombardi Trophies apiece (although the Cowboys have more appearances, with eight). Both have storied histories and Hall of Fame legacies and iconic coaches. And - let's be honest - both franchises have not exactly set the world on fire this decade; the Niners have won just one playoff game in the last ten years. Pathetic, but it's one more than the Cowboys have won.

But is there something about the Cowboys that makes them intrinsically better, some ineffable quality that assures their domination - not only on Sunday, but for all time? Well, of course there is.

Let's break it down.

Ownership: Jerry Jones is loathsome, oily, and disgusting. But has he ever pled guilty to a felony? Has he ever been suspended from ownership? Has he ever been forced to turn over control of the team to incompetents? No. ADVANTAGE: COWBOYS

Stadium: Both teams play in dated 70's era stadiums. But Texas Stadium is beautiful, majestic, and soul-stirring, at least if you stay out of the restrooms. And Candlestick Park -- excuse me, Monster Park at 3com Point -- is a misbegotten, misshapen swamp. And the new stadium that the Cowboys are building is -- despite being across the street from a Wal-Mart -- a showpiece, a twenty-first century marvel of excess, and someplace that I will likely never afford to step foot in. ADVANTAGE: COWBOYS

Iconic Coaches: Everybody respects Bill Walsh's greatness, but let's face it, the most heroic thing that Bill Walsh ever did in his life was hold Paul Brown's clipboard. Tom Landry survived thirty bombing missions over Germany in a Flying Fortress, including a crash landing. Tom Landry personally incinerated more Nazis than I have Facebook friends. You gotta give a little something to a man like that. ADVANTAGE: COWBOYS

Iconic Quarterbacks: Joe Montana? Great quarterback. Leader of men. Where did he end up? Kansas City, wearing #19, and sucking it up. What's he doing now? Hanging out at some pretend diner, schilling for the NFL Network. Oh, wait, that was last year. What's Troy Aikman doing? Working for a living, propping up Joe Buck in the broadcast booth. ADVANTAGE: COWBOYS

Super Bowls: How did the Cowboys win five Super Bowls? They beat the Dolphins the year before they were perfect. They ended Craig Morton's career for him. They pantsed a Buffalo team that was one of the greatest of all time, and then faced down the Steelers in a classic. How did the Niners win five Super Bowls? They beat the Bengals twice and played a Chargers team that was one of the weakest entrants ever. You can't choose your opponents, of course, but beating the Bengals should only count as half a Lombardi, if that. ADVANTAGE: COWBOYS

Organizational Class: The ultimate Niners victory over the Cowboys was the game where T.O. (you remember him, right) danced on the star at Texas Stadium in the tauntingest taunt in the history of taunting. And what happened? George Teague knocked him ass over teakettle, that's what happened. ADVANTAGE: COWBOYS

Are the Cowboys infallible? No. They're almost certainly (although you will never hear me admit this anywhere else) not as good as the Giants this year. And it's true that at least a part of me is cheering on Mike Singletary (a fellow Baylor grad, and he would be coaching the Cowboys now in a just world) to lift the Niners back to prominence. But is that going to happen this week? No. No way. No way the Cowboys lose this game.


Thanks, Curtis. You're insane, but it's all good fun.

I'm Not Gonna Miss This Guy

Only 68 days until Obama's inauguration.

Seriously?

I really thought after last Tuesday we'd get at least a little respite from Sarah Palin.

It's time to actually go back to your job, Governor Palin.

And please shut up.

That is all.

The Candy Gurus!

Do you like candy?

Specifically, do you like sours and licorice and things your three year old son or nephew might call "treats"? Then the Candy Gurus is the site for you.

I suppose decorum dictates that I acknowledge this is crafted by both my brother and my brother-in-law, and they also let me guest post yesterday about a recent discovery, the Reese's Big Cup. (No, not a sour or licorice, but they let me in anyhow.) Check it out here, and then surf the site for more fantastic reviews by some pretty seriously candy obsessed kids.

This Is What Change Looks Like

Courtesy of Patrick Moberg.

The Farmer In Chief

If you missed this article by Michael Pollan a few weeks ago, rest assured that President-Elect Barack Obama did not as he mentioned it in an interview shortly after it was published. It's aspirational, to be sure, but it's really smart, logical and probably very hard to get done.

Some highlights, but it's a LONG article that you should read in full:

Whatever we may have liked about the era of cheap, oil-based food, it is drawing to a close. Even if we were willing to continue paying the environmental or public-health price, we’re not going to have the cheap energy (or the water) needed to keep the system going, much less expand production. But as is so often the case, a crisis provides opportunity for reform, and the current food crisis presents opportunities that must be seized.

To grow sufficient amounts of food using sunlight will require more people growing food — millions more. This suggests that sustainable agriculture will be easier to implement in the developing world, where large rural populations remain, than in the West, where they don’t. But what about here in America, where we have only about two million farmers left to feed a population of 300 million? And where farmland is being lost to development at the rate of 2,880 acres a day? Post-oil agriculture will need a lot more people engaged in food production — as farmers and probably also as gardeners.

The sun-food agenda must include programs to train a new generation of farmers and then help put them on the land. The average American farmer today is 55 years old; we shouldn’t expect these farmers to embrace the sort of complex ecological approach to agriculture that is called for. Our focus should be on teaching ecological farming systems to students entering land-grant colleges today. For decades now, it has been federal policy to shrink the number of farmers in America by promoting capital-intensive monoculture and consolidation. As a society, we devalued farming as an occupation and encouraged the best students to leave the farm for “better” jobs in the city. We emptied America’s rural counties in order to supply workers to urban factories. To put it bluntly, we now need to reverse course. We need more highly skilled small farmers in more places all across America — not as a matter of nostalgia for the agrarian past but as a matter of national security. For nations that lose the ability to substantially feed themselves will find themselves as gravely compromised in their international dealings as nations that depend on foreign sources of oil presently do. But while there are alternatives to oil, there are no alternatives to food.

I Cook...And Then I Chill...

A friend forwarded this to me and it's been WAY too long since I saw $240 worth of pudding.



You might wonder, where'd you get $240?

Shhh....Don't worry your pretty little head about it. (It ain't your concern...)

Olbermann Gets It Right

MSNBC host can be such a blowhard that he's now the subject of a few good imitations, but when he's right, he's spot on. And his denouncement of the passage of Prop 8 is about as good as it gets. His early question, "Why does this matter to you?" is the simplest plea I know.



Here's the transcript:

Finally tonight as promised, a Special Comment on the passage, last week, of Proposition Eight in California, which rescinded the right of same-sex couples to marry, and tilted the balance on this issue, from coast to coast.

Some parameters, as preface. This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics, and this isn't really just about Prop-8. And I don't have a personal investment in this: I'm not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives.

And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics. This is about the human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.

If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don't want to deny you yours. They don't want to take anything away from you. They want what you want—a chance to be a little less alone in the world.

Only now you are saying to them—no. You can't have it on these terms. Maybe something similar. If they behave. If they don't cause too much trouble. You'll even give them all the same legal rights—even as you're taking away the legal right, which they already had. A world around them, still anchored in love and marriage, and you are saying, no, you can't marry. What if somebody passed a law that said you couldn't marry?

I keep hearing this term "re-defining" marriage. If this country hadn't re-defined marriage, black people still couldn't marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal in 1967. 1967.

The parents of the President-Elect of the United States couldn't have married in nearly one third of the states of the country their son grew up to lead. But it's worse than that. If this country had not "re-defined" marriage, some black people still couldn't marry black people. It is one of the most overlooked and cruelest parts of our sad story of slavery. Marriages were not legally recognized, if the people were slaves. Since slaves were property, they could not legally be husband and wife, or mother and child. Their marriage vows were different: not "Until Death, Do You Part," but "Until Death or Distance, Do You Part." Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized.

You know, just like marriages today in California are not legally recognized, if the people are gay.

And uncountable in our history are the number of men and women, forced by society into marrying the opposite sex, in sham marriages, or marriages of convenience, or just marriages of not knowing, centuries of men and women who have lived their lives in shame and unhappiness, and who have, through a lie to themselves or others, broken countless other lives, of spouses and children, all because we said a man couldn't marry another man, or a woman couldn't marry another woman. The sanctity of marriage.

How many marriages like that have there been and how on earth do they increase the "sanctity" of marriage rather than render the term, meaningless?

What is this, to you? Nobody is asking you to embrace their expression of love. But don't you, as human beings, have to embrace... that love? The world is barren enough.

It is stacked against love, and against hope, and against those very few and precious emotions that enable us to go forward. Your marriage only stands a 50-50 chance of lasting, no matter how much you feel and how hard you work.

And here are people overjoyed at the prospect of just that chance, and that work, just for the hope of having that feeling. With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against people for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do?

With your knowledge that life, with endless vigor, seems to tilt the playing field on which we all live, in favor of unhappiness and hate... this is what your heart tells you to do? You want to sanctify marriage? You want to honor your God and the universal love you believe he represents? Then Spread happiness—this tiny, symbolic, semantical grain of happiness—share it with all those who seek it. Quote me anything from your religious leader or book of choice telling you to stand against this. And then tell me how you can believe both that statement and another statement, another one which reads only "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

You are asked now, by your country, and perhaps by your creator, to stand on one side or another. You are asked now to stand, not on a question of politics, not on a question of religion, not on a question of gay or straight. You are asked now to stand, on a question of love. All you need do is stand, and let the tiny ember of love meet its own fate.

You don't have to help it, you don't have it applaud it, you don't have to fight for it. Just don't put it out. Just don't extinguish it. Because while it may at first look like that love is between two people you don't know and you don't understand and maybe you don't even want to know. It is, in fact, the ember of your love, for your fellow person just because this is the only world we have. And the other guy counts, too.

This is the second time in ten days I find myself concluding by turning to, of all things, the closing plea for mercy by Clarence Darrow in a murder trial.

But what he said, fits what is really at the heart of this:

"I was reading last night of the aspiration of the old Persian poet, Omar-Khayyam," he told the judge. It appealed to me as the highest that I can vision. I wish it was in my heart, and I wish it was in the hearts of all: So I be written in the Book of Love; I do not care about that Book above. Erase my name, or write it as you will, So I be written in the Book of Love."

The Amazing, Amazing Race

I haven't had time to write about much (barely even about the most historic election in our nation's history) so it's no suprise I haven't commented on this season of The Amazing Race. But last night was great, as it always is when the 'evil' teams get their comeuppance.

EW's writeup says it better than I could, at least for the moment, so I'll just crib a particularly spot on piece:

It would have been enough to see Kelly repeatedly pelted in the face with paint, but the icing on the canvas was that she had completely misread the clue. Each player was supposed to thumb through a ring of hanging envelopes, all but six of which had the words "TRY AGAIN" written in big letters on them; to move on, you had to find the envelope marked "THE AMAZING RACE." The divorcées thought you had to yank down one envelope at a time, bring it back to your teammate, and then open it up. Even if you're prone to misinterpreting clues, as the divorcées are, wouldn't the fact that the envelope had the words "TRY AGAIN" in huge letters be a huge clue that perhaps it was a dead end? I've been racking my brains trying to think of anything that the producers could have written on the envelopes that could be more obvious, and I can't come up with anything. "YOU'RE AN IDIOT"? Nope, still not as clear as "TRY AGAIN."

When Jeff Met Nadine

A friend of mine (who I just got back in touch with due to the magic of Facebook) got an email by accident, from a woman named Nadine. They couldn't be more different ... and no, they didn't fall in love because this isn't a Hollywood movie.

But it IS fascinating. Start here and then hit "Newer Entry" if you are so inclined.

I couldn't stop reading and this is a work in progress. Fascinating stuff.

In Which Ralph Nader Manages To Become More Irrelevant

Wow. What a massive, massive douchenozzle.



When you get this pwned by Fox News, of all places, you know you've crossed the line. What a massive loser Mr. Nader has turned out to be.

Trying Not To Gloat, But...

This picture makes me pretty happy, especially the part I've circled here:



But really, Joe Lieberman is JUST emerging as a loser? I think we all called that race a long time ago...

(It's worth mentioning, since this photo does essentially tag McCain as a loser - which he is because he lost - that his speech last night was gracious, dignified and a reminder of a tone that was wholly absent in his entire campaign.)

History

MSNBC just called it for Obama and Grant Park is going absolutely NUTS.

This is ... amazing. Historic, amazing and the RIGHT decision by America.



Wow.

Yes We Can

I just saw the often loathsome Joe Scarborough cite Barack Obama's speech in Iowa as one of the transcendent moments of this election season. I think his Philadelphia speech was more amazing in its own right, but he's absolutely correct that this speech rocked people in its eloquence and power.

And it inspired this, which shockingly still moves me today. Sure, I'm in the tank for Obama and a softie nonetheless, but dang.

Yes, we CAN. VOTE.

Vote Like The Country's Fate Depends On It

Because one way or another, it does.



GOBAMA!

Week Nine Wrapup

Another good week in Ye Olde NFL. Not sure if it's parity, or lack of talent, or just the sheer fact that "on any given Sunday" is a saying for a reason, but a lot of teams won or almost won games that they shouldn't have.

One team that did NOT do that was the Oakland Raiders. Good lord, has there been a more pathetic display in the NFL in recent memory? I say this as a 49ers fan who suffered through the league's worst offense for several years, and they NEVER had a game like this. (At least not one I can honestly remember. Pain may have numbed out some actual examples.)

But other teams had suprisingly good Sundays. The Lions almost beat the Bears, and Dan Orlovsky looked like a capable NFL QB in the process. (Of course, this being Detroit, he subsequently got hurt.) The Chiefs should have beat the Buccaneers, but suddenly remembered that they suck and choked away a sizeable lead.

But the real shocker was the Cincinnati Bengals beating the Jacksonville Jaguars. Honestly, I'd bet that even those who picked the Bungles in our league this week thought they'd beat the spread but not win outright. And yet, they did. It gets crazier -- Cedric Benson, late of the aforementioned Bears, ran for over 100 yards and was praised by his teammates for being a hard worker and a good locker room guy.

I'm sorry ... what? There aren't TWO Cedric Benson's right? It's not like the two Adrian Petersons? Cause that makes no sense to me.

Picking the Bengals was a good move, though -- and it was one of the keys to Scottie Schwartz's Cecil Snotz and Hanky's win this week - his second of the year. (He joins Studs Urkel in that regard.) Scott won't get paid until I get some sort of explanation for what his team name means, by the way.

Another key to his success was choosing his hometown New York Giants over the Dallas Cowboys. That was a pretty solid beatdown. As was the Monday night game of the Steelers - who lost Ben Roethlisberger -- over the Redskins. That was UGLY football from Washington.

BEFORE I FORGET -- Picks need to be in on Thursday this week, as Cleveland faces the Broncos on Thursday night! So excited about football on more nights of the week. This game will feature Brady Quinn, who was named the starter over Derek Anderson. I find that sort of interesting -- I haven't watched that much Browns football this year, but the offense had started to produce in recent weeks. In fact, they led the Ravens pretty substantially (I think Baltimore scored 24 unanswered points). I know some of that was DA not controlling the ball, but I'm not sure he's the problem the Browns have right now. Or, at least, replacing him won't cure their ills.

I know I don't have to remind all you socially aware folks, but if you haven't taken advantage of early voting, make sure to go to the polls tomorrow (or today, if you are reading this on Tuesday) and take advantage of our democracy, okay? Vote.

Congrats again, Scottie!

Happy Halloween and Vote!

From Charlie

Thought I'd post a picture of me (Gobama!) with the cutest kid in the world, who rocks the Tigger like nobody's business.

And please, remember to vote tomorrow if you are eligible to do so. Even if you are woefully misguided and want to vote for McCain, this is the process for change so go do it. VOTE.