A Tale of Two Nights

This weekend, I did something that I really haven't done in a long time (and, heck, I'm not sure if I've ever done it) - and that's go out twice in one weekend. On Friday night, Ashley's church group was going to Pete's Piano Bar. Since I'm a fan of that place, I decided to go (and TCU buddy Tim also came). It was fun (a bit too fun, in fact), and it required a full eight hours to sleep off and a breakfast at Cindi's.

Then came Saturday night. One of my sister's friends was having a birthday party...and that, of course, meant a night on the town. This particular friend has been nothing but sweet to me for as long as I've known her, and she's come to my birthday party on a few occasions. So I really wanted to make sure I attended.

At the same time, Keely called and asked if I wanted to be a part of a surprise she was throwing for Tucker. She wanted to take him to Idle Rich Pub because they had a good vegetarian burger. Then she wanted to go to the Ritz Carlton to see a friend DJ. I agreed, with the idea that I would need to go to this birthday party afterwards. But, knowing my sister and her friends, I knew that wouldn't start until later.

We got to Idle Rich for dinner, and Tucker, Keely, and I had a great time. As usual, when Tucker and I get together, we dominate the conversation with our standard topics (sports, Community, The Wire, The Shield, etc). What's funny is that a lot of these topics happen to be things that Keely doesn't like. And, in fact, Tucker pointed out that Keely was probably thinking that it was a bad idea to invite Drew on their little date. But, don't worry...Keely ends up winning this story.

Dinner was cool. Very chill - as Tucker said, bars are really nice and fun before it gets too late. But then Keely wanted to go to the Ritz. Which didn't sound like my kind of scene, but she was really excited about it. We got there, and we promptly planted on the couch.

For the rest of our time there, Tucker and I didn't move. Keely socialized and would occasionally bring people over. You see, Tucker is a really cool person that doesn't like to be social. And, for the most part, I'm uncomfortable with a lot of social situations. And rich people trying to impress each other is one of the situations.

It was fun people watching, though. The women, older and younger, wore their little dresses and highest heels. Some looked really good and a couple looked a bit ridiculous. The guys wore ironic t-shirts or their nice stuff. Tucker and I were dressed pretty casually, but we made no effort to fit in.

Of course, we were at the Ritz. On the weekend before the Super Bowl. Which, while also being a football championship, is also the championship for hookers. And it was a bit fun to look for which girls were there for fun and which were there for work.

When that time ran out, I was off to Knox/Henderson. Something that Uptown Dallas and Knox/Henderson have in common is miserable parking. You end up parking somewhere where you aren't terribly sure if your car will be there when you get there. And if it's there, you probably have a ticket. Either that or you're parking ten miles from your destination in a neighborhood you probably don't want to be in.

But after my sister changed the bar we were going to about ten times, I got there. And, man, that was a different scene.

The people both places were the same. Guys trying to act cool. Girls trying to look hot. But while the Ritz was about appearance, the Knox/Henderson bar was more about the alcohol. As soon as I got to the bar, an extremely intoxicated girl was trying to put her phone in her back pocket. Unfortunately for her, she was wearing a dress with no pockets. So she kept trying to lift up her dress and put her phone in some non-existent pocket in her stockings...while her friends kept reminding her that she didn't have pockets.

The girl was cute, by the way. If you're working on a visual image.

At the Ritz, the music was there but not overpowering. At one point, I pointed out a song playing that was referenced earlier in the night. Even after I pointed it out, they still couldn't hear it.

At the other bar, the music was everything. Girls dancing. Guys standing next to the girls doing something that resembles a dance but is actually just an attempt to touch or see or get noticed. At one point, "I'm On A Boat" came on and stopped everything down. Everyone knew the lyrics or, at the very least, pretended to.

So three different places. Three different atmospheres. Drunk people singing to piano music. Rich people trying to impress themselves (and, if there's time, other rich people). And young people proving to each other that they're young (and, equally important, hot).

And I had fun all three places. One places was simply for the people watching, but at least Tucker and Keely were there to talk to.

And, no, I didn't leave with anyone any of the three times. Although I did drive Lane and one of her friends home. And had to carry the friend into the house. But she did leave me a nice message this morning, thanking me. So that's something.

200

This, as the title suggests, is my 200th blog. Not only that, I'm already well into my third full year of doing the blog. Which is a bit crazy to think about. It isn't like I'm contributing daily (far from it), but it's impressive to me because this is the second time I've tried this blogging thing.

In college, I briefly had a blog called the Pre-Ramble. I thought it was a cool name, and I thought it might be fun to write and have people read. I was a sports columnist for the TCU newspaper at the time...so my thoughts already had an outlet. But blogging was new, and it seemed like a cool idea.

But then I realized that people aren't really going to care about what I have to say. My thoughts aren't necessarily smart or unique, and I don't have enough close friends that care about what I have to say anyway. And even when I made this blog, I knew those things were true. I didn't get a whole lot smarter since the first blog, and I probably have even less friends.

But I've come to realize that this blog isn't really about you. It's about me. Sometimes thoughts just feel more real when they've been typed out. When they can be read on a computer screen. When anyone with the right address can find them. I'll often find myself thinking of something and consider putting it on facebook. But then realize that a couple hundred people might read it. Here, it's probably a dozen.

And, often times, I'll write things to myself in language that only I can understand. Reference things that other people, even those closest to me, couldn't possibly understand. Because those posts have an audience of one, and I just do it for myself. You'll have to ignore those sometimes because they have a cathartic effect on my mind and soul.

So for those of you that read here, I appreciate it. It's cool that some of you take the time to read what I have to write. This isn't something that I really advertise, and some of my friends don't even know that this place exists. So if you're here, you're probably important to me in one way or another.

So here's to 200 more posts. Three more years. And hopefully good times and better days.

The Mountain West Conference - Jealous Girlfriend

TCU and the Mountain West Conference had a pretty solid relationship for a few years. TCU had been dating Conference USA, but the Mountain West was a little bit younger and a little bit cuter. But as time went on, the Mountain West started getting a bit comfortable. She started putting on a few pounds, and she started getting nosy and into TCU's business. At the end of the day, TCU decided that the relationship wasn't working. Particularly when TCU met the Big East Conference. She wasn't perfect, but she had a lot of the qualities that TCU was looking for in a partner. TCU broke it off with the Mountain West and started dating the Big East.

But the problem was that TCU and the Mountain West had an apartment together. And the lease couldn't be broken. Even though they'd broken up, TCU and the Mountain West had to share the apartment for another year. And even though the Mountain West said she was happy for TCU, she eventually morphed into a jealous bi-atch.

The above story is true. Flat-out true.

I can't believe that the Mountain West is openly telling TCU to screw themselves. We have a conference in Division 1 football openly rooting for one team in its conference to beat another. And, to me, I just think that's ridiculous.

Last season, Nebraska fans claimed that the Big 12 officials were giving calls to other Big 12 teams because Nebraska had already decided to leave for the Big Ten. But you can always make that argument - no team has ever thought the officials were on their side.

But the Mountain West is openly siding with Boise State over TCU. Boise State is the new darling for Mountain West (the new boyfriend in my above scenario), and TCU is leaving. You can't blame either team for their move - the Mountain West was supposed to be a big step up for Boise (and still might be), and the Big East is obviously a big step up for TCU (if only for the automatic bid to the BCS).

But, officially, Boise is coming into the conference to replace Utah. And, because of that, TCU is supposed to host the game with Boise State in 2011 (TCU would've hosted Utah this season had Utah stayed in-conference). Despite this, the conference is trying to get the TCU-Boise game moved to Boise.

Why? The only explanation I've seen, all from unofficial sources, is that a Boise win would help the conference more than a TCU win. Boise being good benefits the Mountain West more than a TCU win. We have a conference openly rooting for one team over another.

Um...are you kidding me?

The whole thing is supposed to go to a vote soon, but I'm guessing it will get passed. TCU is obviously mad, and Chris Del Conte (the TCU AD) is complaining. He needs to be calling the other ADs and let them know that, if they're going to screw TCU, they could screw anyone. And the first call he might need to make is to Boise State. Because, at some point, Boise will be joining the Pac 12 or the Big Ten...and I'm guessing they won't want home games stripped from them.

Because TCU/Boise will sell out. In Fort Worth or Boise. That's a sellout that one team is going to get and one team is not going to get. And, especially considering that TCU already lost a probably shutout when Tech backed out, TCU really could use that home game.

I understand it's a business for the Mountain West, but it's also a business for TCU. And, yeah, TCU is leaving...but the relationship was positive for both sides. And it's really low for them to openly cut TCU's legs like this. It costs us money, and it forces us to scramble to fill the schedule. We already lost one game because BYU left. We lose another as Tech leaves. And now we need to find teams that are willing to come here to cover the loss.

And the funny thing is that the Mountain West has ZERO chance to crash the BCS with just Boise. The Mountain West is now the WAC West, and one great team won't get them in. So this is just screwing TCU just because they can.

I felt sorry for the Mountain West because they got so close to being with the big boys and lost out. Not anymore. This is petty and stupid, and I don't respect that.

Music, huh?

I did the following things tonight for the first time (or, in some cases, simply the first time in a long time).

1. Bought a CD - It's been years and years since I've actually bought a CD. But because of some of the subsequent things, I felt the need to actually have some music at work. I won't tell you what I bought, but you can guess.

2. Downloaded iTunes. I bought my laptop about a year ago. Hadn't downloaded iTunes yet.

3. Imported songs onto my laptop. And then onto my iPhone. I bought the iPhone about five months ago. Until today, I had zero songs on it. One of the reasons why I'm so uncomfortably close to passing my data limit every month is that every song I've listened to at work has either been via YouTube or Pandora. Now, I have alternatives.

The next challenge? Importing my old music library onto my new laptop and bringing all of that music onto my iPhone. Then I can download the couple dozen songs that I've loved since I stopped buying music on iTunes.

I actually turned on the old computer, but I don't have any way of transferring the songs from one to the other (flash/zip drive or CDs). My friend Ryan has volunteered, but we haven't had a chance to do it yet.

Ryan also has about 1000 songs that he wants me to listen to. I'm very eager to check them out, but, again, we haven't met up to exchange said songs. But I'm, at least, part of the way there now. If I'm not careful, I'll be on the verge of maximizing the potential of my technology.

Which could be dangerous.

Just a Thought

Anna Kendrick is beautiful.

My Rose Bowl Experience

Dateline - January 1, 2011

Setting - My aunt's house. Eagle Rock, California (the next suburb over from Pasadena)

Characters - Matt, Tim, Ryan (Tim's brother), and me

We woke up early, ready to go to war. My aunt had generously allowed four guys to stay with her for the duration of our stay, and she lives only a couple miles away from the Rose Bowl. She had recommended getting to the stadium early, and we agreed that it needed to happen that way. We watched the parade kick off, and then we went to the Rose Bowl.

For those of you that don't know the geography of the Rose Bowl, it's positioned next to a golf course. In fact, a lot of the parking was actually located on the golf course itself. So Matt drove his little rental car up onto the golf course and parked. Next to a sea of red.

Everyone wondered if we'd parked in a Wisconsin section. I pointed out that, most likely, everywhere would be a Wisconsin section. I knew that we'd brought as many people as we could, and I still expected to be outnumbered 3 or 4 to 1. As we first started walking to the stadium, we heard some quick jabs. Nothing hurtful or memorable. Although someone asked me what kind of people wear purple, and I said..."undefeated people?"

And that was basically it. I've heard a lot of negative things about the Wisconsin fans, but they generally left us alone. We even walked all the way round the Rose Bowl, through the horde of fans, and I didn't really hear anything.

We started off our adventure by going to this free "fan zone" area. It was basically just a fenced-off area with a bunch of food and souvenirs. And a really, really terrible band that was playing really bad music. We watched the end of GameDay, including Lee Corso picking the Badgers to win, and one of the event guys asked us about TCU.

"Where is TCU located?"

"Fort Worth"

"Where is that?"

"Its near Dallas"

"Is that in South Texas?"

*Sigh*

Then he started talking about the game. He seemed really surprised that Vegas had us favored. Everyone else the country was picking Wisconsin...why would the money be on the Frogs?

"Um...because we're good?"

Just a taste of things to come, I guess.

Like I said in last year's posts, I spent the entire day of the Fiesta Bowl with this terrible feeling in my stomach. Something was going to go wrong, and I knew it all day. But the day of the Rose Bowl, I felt great. Optimistic. No worries at all.

Which was strange...because I didn't really know what to think of the game. I knew that TCU was good, but I wasn't sure how good. The teams that TCU beat (Utah, Baylor, SMU, etc.) were all struggling in their bowl games...leading me to wonder if TCU was any good at all. And I knew Wisconsin was good...as they steamrolled through most of their schedule.

I thought that TCU had a pretty good chance of scoring points on a relatively average Wisconsin defense, but I knew we'd have trouble stopping the run. I knew the game would be close, and I was just hoping that it would end with our side winning.

So we ate at an overpriced official tailgate, and we hurried into the stadium. There's nothing special to the Rose Bowl...it's simply a bowl. There is no upper or lower deck. No huge JumboTron. Nothing flashy. Just a hundred years of history.

We watched as people filled the stadium. Walked around for a little bit. And finally took our seats. They introduced both teams. Skydivers carried in the team flags, game ball, and official coin. The coin was tossed, sides were assigned, and it was time to kick off.

We were loud, and Wisconsin took their first snap. Forty yards later, and we were scared. Wisconsin was going to run the ball, and it looked like it was going to be a long day. We were able to hang on, holding the Badgers to a field goal, and we all felt like we'd dodged a bullet. And a few plays later, as Andy Dalton led the Frogs to a touchdown and a 7-3 lead, we felt better.

You see (and any NFL scouts reading, take note), there are actually two Andy Daltons. One Andy showed up to the last BCS game that TCU went to. He's sloppy, inconsistent, and makes tons of mistakes. The other Andy is one of the best quarterbacks in college football.

I'd joked with Ashley that they needed to run their first offensive play as an easy pass to see which Andy we were dealing with. That's exactly what they did - and we had good Andy. My fears were set aside.

But then Wisconsin drove down and scored a touchdown of their own. TCU bounced back and made it 14-10, and we all settled in for a huge shootout.

Wisconsin felt the same thing and decided to slow things down. In the second quarter, TCU had three plays from scrimmage. Wisconsin owned the ball. And for the second year in a row, TCU allowed a damn fake punt in a BCS game.

It was halfway through the quarter. TCU was about to get the game's first stop, leading Wisconsin to a 4th and 4. They sent their punt unit on, and they snapped it to their punter. The whistle blew for a false start penalty, but the punter took several steps forward. Looked like a fake punt to me, but apparently the TCU coaching staff didn't think so.

The punter ran about 25 yards to successfully execute a fake punt. It led to 3 points and a one-point lead for TCU going into halftime. And I was pissed. Boise, Oregon State, and Wisconsin had all executed successful fake punts against TCU in less than one calendar year. Are you kidding me?

But things felt better when TCU raced down to start the half and made it 21-13. I looked up, and there was still 28 minutes left in the half. I was worried that Wisconsin was still able to go down...get a touchdown and a 2-point conversion...and we'd have a new ballgame.

My fears were realized with a few minutes left in the game. Wisconsin ran the ball right down TCU's throats, and looked like they were going to score. And they were doing a perfect job...they were running the ball well enough to run the clock down. Not only were they going to score, but they weren't going to leave enough time on the clock for TCU to do anything. The game seemed destined for overtime. Every time it looked like TCU might stop them, Wisconsin got another first down

And with exactly two minutes left, they scored. Three fourths of the stadium erupted. We hoped that we could, somehow, stop them on the 2-point conversion.

And we did. Despite running the ball for the entire drive (and for the entire game), Wisconsin decided to throw the ball on the most important snap of the game. A lot of people criticized the play...and I agree...but at the same time, the intended receiver was wide open. You can't ask for more than that. But Pat Forde did it best...an All American did what All Americans do. Make a play when the game was on the line.

Our side went crazy. We were still up 21-19, and they had to kick off to us. We started doing math in our heads to figure out how many plays were needed...and we realized that they were going to onside kick. We watched as the kick sailed into Bart Johnson's hands, and we cheered again.

More math. Wisconsin had one timeout left, and that meant we needed a first down. More calm fear. Optimistic hope.

First down. One yard. Timeout Wisconsin. Nine yards to go. Second down. Five yards. Third and 4.

And they got it. And we all went crazy. People were hugging. I was physically lifted into the air. Old people high fived young people. It was absolute insanity. It was the first time I'd really been present for any kind of major championship, and it was absolutely thrilling. We cheered as the clock winded down. We cheered as they brought out the trophy. Cheered through the speeches. Cleared as the Wisconsin band inexplicably took the field and did another set.

And my head hurt for an hour afterwards.

We had a minor with us so we couldn't do any major celebrating. We had dinner. Bought some souvenirs. Had some dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. And we went home.

We saw plenty of red out on Colorado Street in Pasadena, and we knew exactly how they felt. Last year, we went into a big BCS game against a "lesser" opponent and found a way to lose a game we all expected to win. We had thoughts of an AP National Title that were dashed by some random team from some random place.

And it was so great to be on the other side of it this time.

The Rose Bowl

The Rose Bowl was awesome. The whole thing. And I'm not even going to pretend to care about the history of the game because I don't really know anything about it. The Pac-10 has played 96 previous times, but all those games were between teams that I didn't really care about. And since I've really only followed college football for about 8 years, it's not like I'm a fan of the history of the game.

The Rose Bowl was awesome because the team that I do care about, TCU, was able to win the biggest game since World War II. And not only did they win their first BCS game, they were able to win in a convincing way over a Big Ten team that was very respected.

After all the big wins, this is the one it was all building to. Wins over Utah were nice. Wins over BYU were helpful. Wins over Baylor accomplished goals. Oregon State. Virginia. Clemson. Even Oklahoma. They were all going in one direction - 21-19 over Wisconsin.

The Rose Bowl legitimizes the Gary Patterson era in a lot of eyes. In many eyes, it was already legitimized by any of those wins before. In my eyes, it was legitimate a long time ago.

But when you looked at the national media, everyone expected Wisconsin to win. That is, except for TCU fans and Vegas. The money was on the Frogs, but the picks were all for the Badgers. I looked at the Wisconsin message board before the game, and it was full of questions.

- Why is TCU even in the Top 10?

- Could TCU even go .500 in Big Ten schedule?

- How many points will Wisconsin win by?

No one was worried about whether or not Wisconsin would lose. The only question was how many points Wisconsin would win by. And I guess the answer is "one" in the eyes of gamblers...because TCU didn't actually cover the 3-point spread. Unfortunately, that doesn't really count to anyone. Wisconsin wins the bets...TCU wins the game.

This was a win that TCU needed. Andy Dalton and two dozen seniors needed this to cap off an incredible run. Gary Patterson needed it to prove he could win a huge game on a huge stage. TCU needed to avoid going 0-2 in BCS games, particularly heading into a questionable year before heading into an Automatic Qualifying conference.

Boise had Oklahoma. Utah had Alabama. TCU needed Wisconsin.

And a lot of Wisconsin fans still don't get it. They blame the coaching staff and the players for making mistakes. I even saw references to TCU being a "Division 1-AA" and "Division II" team.

The problem is that Wisconsin did pretty much everything they wanted to do. Their offense committed no turnovers. They outgained TCU by 80 yards. They controlled the clock. They racked up 200 yards of rushing. They held TCU's running game and special teams.

If you just looked at the stats, it looked like a Wisconsin win. But TCU was able to win the game because they bent but didn't break. And their best players came up big when they needed to.

Wisconsin didn't lose the game. TCU won it when they had the chance.

I'm gonna write some more about this in later posts. Some of my experiences at the game. Interactions with Wisconsin fans. My time in LA with some good friends. A weird night at a fancy place called Ketchup.

But I just wanted to say that I'm proud of my little Horned Frogs. Who might not be so little anymore.