STICKY DOORKNOBS

Friday Thoughts: Does anyone know when the NFL Draft is? (Does anyone not know when it is?)

• I used to think the NCAA-BCS Football Championship was the most overplayed, over-analyzed, over-covered, over-hyped sporting event in America. Until it was time for the Super Bowl. The I thought the Super Bowl was the most overplayed, over-analyzed, over covered, over-hyped sporting event in America. Until it came time for March Madness-The Tournament-The FInal Four. And then I thought THAT was the most overplayed, over-analyzed, over-covered, over-hyped sporting event in America. But I was wrong again. Because tomorrow ... is the NFL Draft. Which is officially the most-overplayed, over-analyzed, over-covered, over-hyped sporting event in America. Wow! How much can possibly be said about college football players?
• We lost another 70's crooner this week with the passing of Paul Davis. The unique Mississippi songwriter with the long gray hair and velvet whiskey voice of "I Go Crazy" and other hits died of a heart attack Wednesday. He also gave us "Sweet Life," '"65 Love Affair" and the inspiring "Do Right." 'I Go Crazy," though, will be the one song he's always going to be remembered for.
• In the absence of our AI Correspondent, Teri Carter, let me try to be her this week, though I'll no doubt pale in comparison when the only thing I have to say about American Idol is this: David Cook belongs on a higher stage than any of the other pretenders. If anyone else wins this year's competition, it'll just be wrong.
• And a word, a final word presumably, on the Pope. George Wiegel, PJP2's biographer, recently wrote a great piece in Newsweek about Benedict's impact. One quote from the pontiff I found particularly enlightening, when he was asked by a small child how come we should believe in Christ if we can't see him. The pope responded:

"There are many things we do not see, but they exist and are essential ... We do not see an electric current; yet we see that it exists. We can see that this microphone is working, and we see lights. We do not see the very deepest things, those that really sustain life and the world, but we can see and feel their effects. ... We do not see Christ but we see that wherever he is, people change, they improve, and there is greater capacity for good and reconciliation."

Now let's get rid of the teen movies

A few Disjointedisms:

• Now that we've banned the teens from the movies, can we next please ban the teen movies?
• Why is it that in Midland, Texas, the day after the release of the career-encompassing Willie Nelson boxed set, it's not on sale ANYWHERE here? This is West Texas! Shouldn't Willie Nelson be on sale here?
• Shhh: I know I'm probably not supposed to say this too loudly, but 'The Office' is frequently the most hilarious program on television. What makes it more so is that a lot of us have worked for bosses as blindly insensitive as Michael, and a lot of us have worked with people just like those who work at Dunder Mifflin. When comedy imitates life it is often both painful, embarrassing and funny as can be.
• Here's something you maybe wouldn't have suspected: I visited with District Judge John Hyde this morning about his recent trip to Washington, D.C. It was his first trip to the nation's capital, ever.
• Pet Peeve of the Week: I'm in the inside lane approaching a traffic signal controlled intersection. The guy two car lengths in front of me in the middle lane turns left, just whipsright across my lane in front of me without even so much as slowing down and checking his mirror. It's happened to me three times THIS WEEK.
• Something I have never really been able to understand (except for the fact that yes, I understand it is all about money): We are supposed to get excited about the post-season NIT basketball tournament? Umm, how come? We watch a sporting event that trophyizes the team that wins the title of 66th best basketball team in the country. Isn't that watering things down maybe just a little? Isn't that sorta counter to what American sports is about anyway? Hoisting mediocrity on high? Wouldn't that be like devoting an entire season of "The Apprentice" to finding out which guy  Trump can hire that would ensure The Donald's company's net profits increase 0 percent over the next fiscal year? Or maybe like watching a season of "American Idol" where we watch the contestants duke it out to be America's 18th best singer.

Assorted Whines: What the world really needs is private consults for dirty air filters

Lent is over. So I can whine again. And I got a few things saved up.

No.  1: THE EZ RIDER THEME SONG MUST GO! Let's be honest. Give me fingernails on a chalkboard any day. Someone may actually kill someone over this song. It is time to bury it once and for all. Or we could literally have a Throw It Under The Bus Party. That Sanjaya kid from American Idol last year: I'd really rather tolerate something from him than have to listen to that annoying jingle even just one more time.

No. 2: Little Debbie has messed with my Nutty Bars for the last time. I used to get two Nutty Bars in my cellophane wrapping. Now it's one. So I am either getting less snack enjoyment or I have to work twice as hard for the same amount of snack enjoyment which, since I have to work twice as hard is actually less snack enjoyment. I am not diggin' this. As I held my Nutty Bar the other day, it also occurred to me that it was smaller than it used to be. In the old Nutty Bars there were five distinct wafer layers. Now there are four. I thought perhaps a cost crunch might be at the bottom of this whole scandal until I looked at the box: "Now with just 100 Calories!" Debbie, newsflash: anyone chomping on your Nutty Bars IS NOT WORRIED ABOUT CALORIC INTAKE. Take heed: The world does not want smaller Nutty Bars.

   No. 3: I wish Mr. Rapid Oil Change would stop bringing me my dirty air filters when I get my oil changed. It's embarrassing. I want my oil changed. I don't need the whole world seeing my dirty air filter. But they bring it out and give me some bleak prognosis on how much life I have left in the filter and then ask me if I want to spend $70 more for a new one. Uhhh. NO. If I'd wanted a new one, I'd have gone to Mr. Air Filter. It's one thing to have to make a tricky financial decision in front of a room full of people, but more than anything it's just the whole spectacle of it all: parading out my dirty filter in front of everyone else sitting in the waiting room. They don't bring you your bad x-rays out when you're sitting in the doctor's waiting room. It's like if my doctor came out and prescribed Flomax for me in front of 10 or 15 total strangers sitting next to me. Thanks, but I'd rather continue to have the problem. I'm afraid it might be time for private consults at the garage.

Throw the jingle under the bus

Is there no way we can get us a new EZ Rider theme song now?

It's a toaster thang

Window stickers often display a driver's personality. If you drive an Element, like a growing number of us do, it's the car that has the personality.

WOTY

MerriamWebster.com has unveiled 2007's Word of the Year. And apparently, I am a little behind the rest of the world.

The word of the year? "wOOt!"

From Merriamwebster.com:
w00t (interjection)

expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay"

w00t! I won the contest!

I've heard of WHOOP! And Woo-Hoo! But wOOt's a new one!

Monday morning

OK, OK, it's Tuesday, But it feels like Monday.

• If this writing gig doesn't work out, I think probably I could make an excellent living taking things to my wife at work that she has forgotten at the house. :)
• Tuesday morning, and I'm just now thawing out from Sunday night's Green Bay-NY Giants game. And I was just watching on TV.
• Whatever flu-type thing smacked me down on Sunday ain't much fun at all. Just a lot of non-descript, serious ache all over, tired all-over stuff I wouldn't wish upon anyone and lasts about two days. Word a warning: Don't breathe in if anybody breathes on you.
• Just my opinion: The absolute worst place to be when you are sick is on an airplane. With a two-hour layover in the middle of stops.
• Speaking of the Giants-Packers game ... that poor New York kicker Lawrence Tynes misses two and almost goes unemployed Monday. Meanwhile, WRs and QBs miss all the time, bad throws and dropped catches that may or may not be a missed six, but they seldom catch as much heat as a kicker, who has to do his job with everyone focused on him. Gotta be nerve-wracking.
• The Patriots are 13 point favorites? I don't know ... this is one hot Giants' team. And, if the Patriots lose, who will go down as the greatest team ever? The 17-0 1972 Dolphins? Or the  19-1 '08 Patriots? I think we've gotta back the Giants in SB42 for some real debate.
  
• And Giants-Patriots of course means ANOTHER New York-Boston matchup. Somewhere out there, someone knows just how many times these two cities have met to decide a sports title, and my guess is it's been a lot, especially if you count Red Sox-Yankees for league championships.
• And speaking o debates, Monday's Democratic head knocker was the best I've seen in a while. The differences between the three candidates were made very clear, not to mention their dislike for each other. And whoever thought a white male would be the underdog?

Happy New Year? Couldn't be better now that insurance has kicked in again

Notes from a vacation where nary a pen was lifted or a key stroked:

• For a married guy with three children who collectively breezed through the family's flexible (insurance) spending account, exhausting the pot as far back as October, news of the arrival of January 1 is really, really exciting.
• Just one Dec. 31 I'd like to wake up and NOT see a story about the New Year rolling in, in Australia and all the other countries that come before us. Having the New Year NOT come in those places would actually be the bigger news story.
• Why I like vacations: because just for a few days you can sit around and see what it would feel like to not have a job and not need a job.
• Why I don't like vacations: the last day of a vacation brings the reality that work is necessary.
• On the "Guitar Hero" video game craze: I havent figured out whether this video game is a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand it is good that kids who like video gaming are being exposed to a little culture, even if it is just rock and roll. On the other hand, there's a certain oddity surrounding a Christmas morning filled with the ancient strains of "Smoke on the Water" and "Paranoid" that I haven't fully adjusted to just yet.
• On "Guitar Hero, Part 2: Oh sure these guys are geniuses for having created such a great game (and one with NO violence), but you know it won't be long before Guitar Hero features a bonus round where players pretend they are The Who and The Rolling Stones just to see who can do  a more thorough job trashing a hotel room.
• On Guitar Hero, Part 3: If this game is ever gonna be a complete success, the creators really should make "Guitar Hero: Barry Manilow Edition" for dads.

Ain't that the truth

Today's wise words:

"It is not life and its difficulties that we must conquer, but the self within."

Various and Sundry Thursday

Gallavanting about the last week, blogging has been darn near impossible. So today is catch up day. (Apologies to the kind souls who have left comments on recent days' entries; the Christmas busy-ness and travel has left me even unable to comment on your comments and I apologize).

• The news of retired San Antonio Archbishop Flores "going missing" was truly startling. The 78-year-old retired prelate missed an exit while heading to his San Antonio-area retirement home and continued driving west along I-10, not exiting until he was in Ozona, where he was found at 4 a.m. Wednesday. Archbishop Flores, considered as a sort of grandfather figure in the church in San Antonio, is hearing impaired and diabetic. He was unharmed in the incident and officials believed there was no foul play.
• Don't be surprised whose name you hear when the George Mitchell steroid report is released at 1 today. Roger Clemens' name was leaked by ESPN this morning ... and that's no surprise. The report has the potential to damage the reputation of the sport as greatly as the last big strike a few years ago. At least I hope it does.
• Gripping reading: Sports Illustrated's report on Buffalo Bill Kevin Everett walking again.
• I love Austin.
• Daniel Cardinal  DiNardo is a truly nice and good man. If you are one of the 7 million Catholics in Texas, you appreciate just how historic his being named a cardinal is. My favorite story is his telling of receiving a card from a child in school. The card said, "Congratulations, Cardinal. Now get to work." Even the assembled media in Austin laughed at that one.
• Just a hunch: If Hillary Clinton wasn't so prone to having bad photos taken of her, I bet he poll numbers may be a lot higher.
• Music tip o' the week: "Christmas Songs," by Jars of Clay, with the absolute coolest version of "Drummer Boy" you'll ever hear, and unique spins on "Christmastime is Here" and "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem." Five star listening for the season.