Week 4 (2013): Return To Mediocrity

Travel to 1155 N. Dearborn...

Meet Interesting People.

And Google them. 


Linipalooza '13
You'll never know what might occur.

What do you mean Tommy doesn't  do  'read progression'?'

Text of the Week (and possibly, year)
How can you sit there live and watch this debacle?  I hope at least that you have rags dipped in ether that you can huff from time to time...

 Received while in-Notre Dame stadium, 9/21/13

Response (not mine): "I wish we had thought that far ahead..."

I get asked from time to time, usually within the framework of an annual performance review, 'how do you arrive at the peculiar thoughts that you do?'  

Is it because...

• The possible side effects of your mother smoking and drinking during your pregnancy?  (It was the 50's...)
• The physical and psychological abuse subjected to by your older brothers, who made you the unwitting pawn in sadistic games like 'Rodeo Roundup' - where your role was that of the 'frisky calf'?
• The slow, insidious effects of parenting two gifted but frankly, odd children who've made you question the whole 'nature or nurture' thing?



"Daddy, is that The Three Wise Men?"  No.  No it is not.




• The increasingly poor choices of friends you made in college, culminating in an unhealthy, downward spiral you've clearly never quite walked away from?

Never entirely sure if those were permissible lines of workplace inquiry, the usual answer was a simple "yes."  

But I digress.  I share this because I'm beginning to have similar uncomfortable questions about our coaches' line of curious thinking.  

Song of The Week
It was fortuitous that just a week ago, The Replacements were playing a rare, semi-reunion gig at Riot Fest near Chicago. Always something of a cult band, by rights, one of their albums should've made my Stygian collection on the Trip to The Great Beyond.  It didn't. But be that as it may, their song "Someone Take The Wheel" is the perfect metaphor for my perception of The ND Football Plan.  'Cause, for sure, I don't know where we're going.

The music is pounding out in that rain
and we're standing in the shadows
forever on the brink
turn it up so I don't have to think.

Someone take the wheel
and I don't know where we're going

Anybody say what you feel

Everybody's sad, but nobody's showing.

WORD OF THE WEEK 
WELTSCHMERZ   welt·schmerz noun, often capitalized \ˈvelt-ˌshmerts\ 

Definition 

:  mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state 

:  a mood of sentimental sadness

Origin 

German, from Welt world + Schmerz pain
First Known Use: 1864

Used in a sentence:  After games like last Saturday, young Terry often wondered whether his love of schadenfreude in the sports world was driven by his overwhelming sense of Notre Dame Weltschmerz.

Pre Game

"Can I freshen that cocktail for you while I'm up, Kay?"

Friday night.  The family is in town.  

"And this weekend, the role of the Eddie Haskell oldest brother will be played by Jerry Cincotta..."

A role, apparently, he was born to play.

Later he falls asleep during the 41-40 Fresno-Boise State game, demonstrating that weird ability our father had to hear while REM'ing.  Creepy.

 

Game Day.   The boys pile into the Lexus and head east for South Bend, strategically throwing (we think) Cincotta as far back in the car as humanly possible - in effect creating a small quarantine area from the rest of the car.

Tactical error.  He spends the next 45 minutes waxing rhapsodic about... clouds.     Campus CANNOT come soon enough.

"Bob, I was led to believe this was 'khaki mandatory..."

Arrival and 'A' Lot is back in business!  It seems like only yesterday.  Perfect weather. Perfect crowd.  Even perfect dogs.  Perfect hosts, obviously. And of course, The Perfect Behrens Bloody Mary.  How shall I name thee?

• 7 Course Meal In A Solo Cup
• A Conversation With God
• 50 Shades of Awesome

And the little scenes One Act plays that one observes :

I'm told my dates get arrested here... Yes, I was aware of that.	How are you getting out of going into the stadium?  I've got my mother-in-law with me...
We have a proud history in our family of marrying light years above our place on the food chain - do NOT screw this up...	You can act normal, Belknaps.  But you're not fooling anyone...

The Game

Actually I would prefer not to comment.  It only makes me sad.  Other than to say 'thanks again for the seats, Tim' and that I'm pretty sure that we were experiencing Cirrus cloud formations all afternoon long.

Summary Observations

Engineers, please solve for X if n = Tommy

• If Rees is even mildly accurate, we win by two touchdowns.
• Between Tommy and the DB's, we are teaching - and they are learnin' - regression really well.
• How bad must Hendrix be - and how unprepared Zaire - that they don't even sniff the field?
• If Saturday was any indication, Martin should be relieved of play calling responsibilities immediately.
• Unless, in fact, our play book really does have only three pass patterns (go long, fade, run as close to the sideline as humanly possible).
• Did we throw more than once to the TE? 
• ND first downs:  2 rushing, 5 passing, 7 penalty.  Score one for a balanced attack! 
• It would've been nice to see some of those PI's on replay.  But, of course, didn't.  Because WE DON'T HAVE A JUMBOTRON.  He says, bitterly.
• Shumate is awful in coverage. Does no one teach looking back for the ball?
• Cam is plucky, tough.  Still can't see him as our best RB.
• Irrespective of whether some of those PI calls against MSU were correct, they had their hands on ND receivers waaay down field all day long. 
• Don't know if it's only against ND but Dantonio remains a smug, I-gotta-be-the-cleverest-guy-in-the-stadium tool.  His unnecessary halfback pass was arguably the play of the game.  Enjoy running that back a few times when you're watching film, coach.

The Schedule

August / September	October	November
31    TEMPLE                         W     7    @Michigan                       L   14   @Purdue                           W  21   MICHIGAN STATE         W  28   OKLAHOMA*	5   ARIZONA STATE (Dallas)          19   USC                                        26   @Air Force	2     NAVY                       9    @Pitt                       23    BYU    30    @Stanford

*Linipalooza!

THE BET

Team 11 might be the only ones remotely happy after this game.  Live for at least one more week.

Wins	Philospher	School of Thought / Representative Quote	Modern Translation	Contestant  prediction
12	EPICURIS	The Self-Indulgent & Excessive “You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day.  You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity..”	Man up! We’re still BCS bound even w/o Everett and Eddie! Go Irish!  (And stop bogarting the wine skin, bro…)
11				Kevin C, Ray, Dave M
10	KIERKEGAARD	The Logical “Face the facts of being what you are, for that changes what you are…”	Epicuris is an incorrigible drunk but he’s right about this still being a very good team.  That said, losing Golson has to cost us a game or two.	Terry, Peter, Ted, Mike G, Jay, JP, Daryl, Jerry W, Dennis
9				Raz, Jim S, Jim T, Bob S, Tim C Jerry C, Mike C, Tom, Randy Tim S, Blair, Kevin M, Shea, Mark
8	WITTGENSTEIN	The Realist “I sit astride Life like a bad rider on a horse.  I only owe it to the horse’s good nature that I am not thrown off at this very moment…”	I don’t have a clue what’s gonna happen but the odds alone suggest we’ll win 7-8 and go bowling in Shreveport.	Garrett, Bryan, John, Brian, Lini, Jerry P, Ryan C, Matt
7				Alvin
6	SCHOPENHAUER	The Skeptic “The wise have always said the same things, and fools, who are the majority, have always done just the opposite…”	Epicurus is delusional. Everett is a significant loss. The entire ‘O’ was built around him. Bet high at your peril.
5
4	DIOGENES	The Cynic “What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others…”	The high point of the year is gonna be the ‘A’ Lot experience.  Again. Not that that's a bad thing.
3
2	NIETZSCHE	The Nihilist “A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything…”	Honestly, why bother with any of this?  Life beyond ‘A’ Lot is a wretched, futile existence - devoid of meaning. May I have another Bloody?
1

COCKTAIL OF THE WEEK

Cyanide

• 1 oz. Disaronno Originale amaretto almond liqueur
  
• 1 1/2 oz. Coco Lopez cream of coconut
• 2 dashes Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Cocktail Bitters
• Cocoa powder, to taste

Gently shake the first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice, pour into a chilled glass. Garnish with cocoa powder.  You've read about how the deadly poison cyanide tastes like almonds.  Note how smoothly the drink goes down.
Sometimes the worse things for you seem like the best ideas at the time.  Like actually entering Notre Dame stadium with friends and family.  It was an awesome tailgater.  Why leave it?

But you did anyway.  At least your seats had cushions.  Thank you, Sully.

BUDDY'S BUDDY

An imaginary conversation on what seemed like a completely imaginary day...

Buddy:  Welcome, Murphy and Seamus Flaherty, nice to have you as the celebrity guest 'ND Buddy' committee this week.  

Seamus:  Nice to be here, it's an honor.

Buddy:  I'm a big fan of your owners.  Beyond the psychotic Red Sox thing, Jay is a cool dude.  And I've never seen a woman shoot a beer quite like Mary...

Murphy:  They have their moments.

Hey, that green-yellow vodka looks suspiciously like...

Buddy:  Well, lets get to it.  In a game that would compel me to stay on this side of the grave, what good did either of you see?

Seamus:  Well, we saw a couple things worth talking about.  I'm more of a traditionalist and want to throw Brindza's name into it.  
 On those last two punts, he was channeling his inner "I Am Thor, Son of Odin!" thunderfoot and got us out of some pretty awful field position.

Murphy:  I had a slightly different take and think, flat out, the referees were the stars of the game.  They were our most consistent, go-to offensive weapon.  Then again, I did help myself to some spilled Behrens Bloody Mary at the tailgater - that horseradish is killer - so my observational skills were, perhaps, was not at their peak.

Buddy:  I want to party with you, Murph!  The REFEREES it is.

SCHADENFREUDE

A number of close calls but not enough abject failures.  Bummer.  

1.  USC.  A 17-14 win over Utah State - the Aggies.   Did you know - other than Thompson - that at one point they were known as The Scotsmen?  Cue the Braveheart music.  Also cue the "Deadman Walking" music.  Or so SC alums would like.  But even as Lane keeps winning close games that used to be blow outs, one is... never... quite... sure... that Kiffie'll get the boot.  So count this one in the 'awesome schadenfreude' column as SC Natiuon twists in the wind.

CRASH'S CRETINS

1. The 70's Club.   Has there ever been a weekend where four teams, like Ohio St., Miami, Louisville, Baylor, have rung up 70+ points on the same day?  Almost certainly not. And there's a reason for that - it's a totally lame thing to do.  

2.  Ty  Warner  You subjected the world to Beanie Babies, in doing so making yourself a billionaire and making any parent in the 1990's with small children hate you, as those little critters literally multiple like rabbits.  Then you skip out on the tax obligation?  The $53M fine is not nearly enough:  one can only hope your prison sentence involves some kind of pre-school obligation with severely over-tired, entitled brats. 

3.  Jacoby Jones.  Nothing says 'cretin' quite like the magic elixir you get when combining a professional footballer, a party bus and stripper named Sweet Pea.  But when you get hit in the head with a bottle by said exotic dancer, it almost makes one pine for those awkward 'Dancing With The Stars' days?  Almost.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument."               

 William G. McAdoo

Now defeating a stubborn football coach, with a new contract, is an entirely different kettle of fish.  As we're likely to see this week.

Final Thought - I

       Behrens                     Flaherty                     Belknap                Lini                          Rasmus

A Lot.  Be there.  Again.

Final Thought - II

Early Linipalooza events planning:

Wednesday (9/25):  Still on the docket: Corrigans, Flaherty's, possibly Belknaps... maybe even an appearance by noted author and gonzo journalist, Bryan Gruley and / or Dillon Hall's #1 Son, Jeff Bob Rasmus...   for an evening of hearty midwestern cuisine and adult beverages, with the strong probability that we'll talk about you in your absence.  

And by 'talk about you', I mean 'make up stuff, share with the other patrons and post on social media'.

Friday (9/27):  Harborside International., Port course.  Update:

The foursomes are set:

12:30pm: Ungie, Lini, Spittler The Elder, Spittler The Younger

12:40pm:  JP, Alvin, Peter, TC

If you're interested in playing, give me a shout and we can see if there's still a chance to snag another tee time.

Final Thought - III

GO TRIBE!
 

Week 3 (2013): And Now For Something Completely Different

Okay, maybe not so much.  Another game, another disappointment.  I thought we were past this.  Evidently not.  

You mean he's not going to Debtor's Prison?

But speaking of things we are past... my life as an itinerant marketing consultant.  Which is to say, for those who didn't know, since the start of July,  I'm no longer occupationally unencumbered (sans job).  

Huzzah!  And the Corrigan girls rejoice - no more prospects of thin gruel for their Christmas porridge!  

Of course, with the good comes the bad.  Now that I have somewhere to go every single day and apply my energies, certain projects have to be suspended:

1. "Tommy".  A rock opera for the new millenium.  Deaf, dumb and blind QB becomes a modern day messiah for small backward, mildly inbred group of religious radicals in SE Pennsylvania. (Think Book of Morman Meets Amish Mafia.)  A clear Tom Cruise vehicle. Or Pauly Shore.

Always look on the bright side of life...

2. "Infectious Diseases In Cattle".  An admittedly derivative book of children's sonnets using sickly-but-cheery livestock as "the sun will come up tomorrow!" metaphor.  Probably a non-starter anyway, due to my inability to find a word that rhymes with Jakob-Creutzfeldt. And identify anyone willing to illustrate it. 

Next stop - North Korea!

3. "Pussy Riot:  The Balaclava Strikes Back." A coffee table book featuring the kookie russian punk rockin'-feminist-masked avengers as style icons leveraging both their unlistenable music (cd included!) and their love of primary colors and cheap acrylic, with fashion tips for what to wear when toppling an authoritarian government.   The perfect Christmas gift for that certain 'tough to buy for' someone.  Perhaps in '14.


At any rate, thanks to all for your support during a pretty odd, frustrating time for me.  

What's that got to do with ND football?  Well beyond the fact that I bet the Pussy Riot chicks can tackle better than our DB's and I KNOW they'd never get knocked on their butts by a little RB not carrying an AK-47 (I'm talking to you, Matthias), not much.  

But such is the mental state of watching this team after three games:  mixed up, disappointed and looking for answers in the most unlikely of places.  Like the Kremlin.

 SONG OF THE WEEK

Thanks, first of all, to everyone who shared their Top 10 albums lists.  I never realized there were so many Tony Orlando & Dawn fans out there.  But growing up in the tumultuous 70's affected us all differently I suppose.  One band that I'd personally throw into the under-rated camp would be Creedence and the poignant "Someday Never Comes" seems to describe my attitude towards our football program.

"Papa, why does every QB we play against look like a Heisman candidate, even when it's the guy's first start since his Pop Warner days? Why does Tommy throw it 90mph when his receiver is 8 yds away from him? Why do we play the slow white guy at (pick your position here)?"

First thing I remember was askin' papa, "why?"

For there were many things I didn't know.

And daddy always smiled; took me by the hand,

Sayin', "Someday you'll understand."

Well, I'm here to tell you now, each and ev'ry mother's son.

You better learn it fast; you better learn it young,

'Cause someday never comes. 

WORD OF THE WEEK
Pococurante  adj   \ˈpō-kō-kyu̇-ˈran-tē, -ku̇-\

Definition 
:  indifferent, nonchalant, apathetic

Origin

·      Italian, poco curante caring little

·      First Known Use: 1815

Used in a sentence:  The ND team showed such a frustratingly pococurante effort for 3/4 of the game that young Terry was forced to turn his attention in a different direction. And by 'different' he meant 'single malt.'

Pre Game
Watching ESPN Game Day in the a.m. and...

Treat #1:  A nattily attired Lyle Lovett is the guest game picker!
Treat #2:  His presence forces Desmond Howard off the dais.  A win-win!
Treat #3:  Lyle totally knows what he's talking about, making savvy and insightful observations on half a dozen games.  And in the process, thoroughly bewilders Lee Corso.   Not that that is such a remarkable achievement.
 
Lyle, you've long been The Most Interesting Thing About Texas.   

Now you're Deity. 

First Half

• Apparently we're quite vulnerable to the screen pass.
• We have to be one of the worst 3rd down defenses in the country.  
• Good decision making, GAIII.  Bobble the ball in the end zone then return it. 
• It was unfortunate timing to have watched Bama's #4 (Yeldon) run roughshod through A&M this afternoon... 
• Brent is almost immediately irritating but here's the thing:  he's not wrong.
• As Terry calls for a freshman RB - any freshman RB! - he also calls for The Macallan.  And the cool spherical ice ball maker I got for Father's Day. 
• Tommy.  Pick Six! And the Purdue guy drops it.
• How to beat ND:  quick RB in any kind of space against a LB, instant 8 yds.  And probably a lot more. 
• Another near Pick Six.  Um, coach Kelly, I think Purdue has figured out the flat sideline pass.
• Tommy breaks contain and... we still have the ball at the end of the play.  Consider it progress. 

Engineering applied for the betterment of society...

 Halftime Haiku!

Efficient ice orb,

Awesome engineering feat.

Taught in Solids, yes?

Second Half

"Enough w the red zone fades!"

• We've reached Defcon 3.  Time for more Macallan.  
• Lisa has buggered off to the back bedroom as my alter ego, Mr. Grumpy Pants, makes himself known. That is so predictable of her. I'm am forced to fend for myself in the kitchen...
• Greek yogurt, some kind of edible shrubbery, cat food.  Twinkies! 
• 1st play, another flat pass.   Apparently my psychic advice is no longer of use to the coaching staff.
• Tommy throws into triple coverage.  Again.
• And TJ Jones makes a remarkable catch.  Again. 
• Like sea salt with a dark chocolate mousse, the spongy goodness of the Twinkie makes for an unlikely-yet-symbiotic companion to the soothing Speyside notes of The Macallan.
• Bennett Jackson!  I don't wish to sound ungrateful but it's about freaking time. 
• "We may be white but we're slow!"  
• We cannot put these guys away.
• Tonight, Tommy has a remarkable ability to throw the ball just outside the reach of the receiver so that they can get a hand on it. But just not catch it.
• I'm starting to hear voices in my head.  Scottish voices. Who clearly know nothing about American football.  But hey, no one else seems to either tonight so join the club.  
• Brent professes his Man-Love for Louis III and Herbie is looking like he secretly wants to report him to their HR rep for creating an uncomfortable work environment. 
• 7:00 left and no more scotch, no more Twinkies.  This game can't get over soon enough.

Summary Observations

• We are incapable of playing any way other than DOWN to the level of our competition.
• Not Tommy's best game - and he's already everyone's favorite whipping boy - but beyond his obvious physical limitations, I'm tired of hearing how smart he is.  He's not.  And when your coach has to spend an entire half 'settling him down', as a senior, against Purdue, what does that say?
• As Sully pointed out, our offense is too sophisticated, apparently, for a freshman RB to be able to grasp.  But opponents can suss it out after two game films. 
• I see Louis III getting double teamed a lot but where, exactly, is Tuitt all game long?
• Outside of Jaylon Smith, our LB's appear to be the least athletic humans in the stadium. 
• The DB's, with the possible exception of Jackson, have clearly regressed.
• Guess we don't have to worry about Diaco being poached if this keeps up. 
• I'm not sure our O-line is quite as mediocre as they look - they pass protect pretty well - but it's clear, as Sully suggested, that teams will dare ND to beat them passing.
• So maybe people ought to cut Kelly some slack on his play calling.  If there's eight defenders at the line of scrimmage, any running lanes are gonna be really hard.
• That said, the last run-out-the-clock series was mildly impressive.  But Cam McDaniel can't be our go-to RB, can he?
• Would Kelly ever have the courage to change QB's, as Stanford did last year?  Return Tommy to reliever role?  Doubtful. Maybe that's more a commentary on Hendrix / Zaire than Rees...

The Schedule

August / September	October	November
31    TEMPLE                         W    7    @Michigan                       L   14   @Purdue                           W   21   MICHIGAN STATE             28   OKLAHOMA*	5   ARIZONA STATE (Dallas)          19   USC                                        26   @Air Force	2     NAVY                       9    @Pitt                       23    BYU    30    @Stanford

*Linipalooza!

THE BET

Alvin is looking very, very smart right about now.

Wins	Philospher	School of Thought / Representative Quote	Modern Translation	Contestant  prediction
12	EPICURIS	The Self-Indulgent & Excessive “You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day.  You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity..”	Man up! We’re still BCS bound even w/o Everett and Eddie! Go Irish!  (And stop bogarting the wine skin, bro…)
11				Kevin C, Ray, Dave M
10	KIERKEGAARD	The Logical “Face the facts of being what you are, for that changes what you are…”	Epicuris is an incorrigible drunk but he’s right about this still being a very good team.  That said, losing Golson has to cost us a game or two.	Terry, Peter, Ted, Mike G, Jay, JP, Daryl, Jerry W, Dennis
9				Raz, Jim S, Jim T, Bob S, Tim C Jerry C, Mike C, Tom, Randy Tim S, Blair, Kevin M, Shea, Mark
8	WITTGENSTEIN	The Realist “I sit astride Life like a bad rider on a horse.  I only owe it to the horse’s good nature that I am not thrown off at this very moment…”	I don’t have a clue what’s gonna happen but the odds alone suggest we’ll win 7-8 and go bowling in Shreveport.	Garrett, Bryan, John, Brian, Lini, Jerry P, Ryan C, Matt
7				Alvin
6	SCHOPENHAUER	The Skeptic “The wise have always said the same things, and fools, who are the majority, have always done just the opposite…”	Epicurus is delusional. Everett is a significant loss. The entire ‘O’ was built around him. Bet high at your peril.
5
4	DIOGENES	The Cynic “What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others…”	The high point of the year is gonna be the ‘A’ Lot experience.  Again. Not that that's a bad thing.
3
2	NIETZSCHE	The Nihilist “A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything…”	Honestly, why bother with any of this?  Life beyond ‘A’ Lot is a wretched, futile existence - devoid of meaning. May I have another Bloody?
1

COCKTAIL OF THE WEEK

The Televangelist

• 2 oz. Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum
  
• 1 splash amaretto
• Ginger ale
• One copy of Joel Osteen's "Your Best Life Now"

Combine the first three ingredients in a highball glass with ice.  Drink. Scan idly through Osteen's book during the TV timeouts. 

"Anyone can create by faith and words the dreams he desires, " the book unabashedly promises.  "Health, wealth, happiness, success! Even the perfect red zone play calling strategy!"

Wait a minute.  This doesn't sound like stuff that Jesus would say.  

Keep reading through the book - it's halftime anyway.  Get to the part about how you have a "Miracle in your mouth". Throw back another cocktail.  "Why yes I do!"

Then keep reading, if you dare.  But keep that Captain Morgan handy.  You're going to need it.

BUDDY'S BUDDY

Last week, tough. This week, easy.  Davaris Daniels is gonna be a star, not that the rest of the world may necessarily know it this year.

This was one week where the stats weren't deceiving:  8 catches, 167 yds. and 2 TD's.  And for all the commentator's chatter about Purdue daring ND to go deep, it's a mystery (to me) why it took us so long to do so.  

Nonetheless, the clear Star / Savior of the game. 

SCHADENFREUDE
Another  easy week to find joy in other's misfortune.  

1.  Texas A&M   Not the beat down I was kinda hoping for but a loss is a loss. And with coach Sumlin (and Johnny Football) likely off to the NFL next year

2.  Texas. Talk about hitting rock bottom. 27 unanswered 2nd half points against a team that's 10 years removed from starting a Manning at QB.  In a complete downward spiral, I can't look away. 
3.  Wisconsin.    Old habits die hard.  Your complete-tool-of-a-coach left for Arkansas (good riddance to bad rubbish) but you were still ranked higher than us.  So I must celebrate your misfortune.  Not that it makes me feel any better about the ASU game in Dallas in a few weeks.
4.  USC.  Hey SC fans, welcome to our world (circa the Davie-Willingham-Weis years)!  You hate your coach, know he's a total fraud, yet every time you win, you lose - as he becomes possibly, just maybe, that less fire-able!  Enjoy a year of twisting in the wind. 

CRASH'S CRETINS

1.  Johnny M.   As my brother Mike so aptly put it, you're the Lindsey Lohan of college football. So talented and such a colossal train wreck.  I loved this gem from Saturday's telecast, "My motto is live hard, play hard."   Wow, that's original.   

2.  Pete Carroll.  Whining to the refs, that's nothing new for The Poodle.  But last night's attempt to lobby the refs about some fan - with clear malevolent intent - blowing a whistle from the stands to confuse his lads (and leading to a 49'er punt block) was unique inasmuch as the Seahawks were playing at home.   Good one, Pete. 

3.  Brandon Merriwaether.  He was a thug at 'The U' and after a couple NFL stops is now a thug for the Redskins.  That doesn't make him particularly special.  But this kinda does:  Sunday he goes helmet-to-helmet with Eddie Lacy and gives him a concussion, knocking him out for the game (and probably longer). That worked out nicely.  So he does it again to another Packers RB - and this time gives himself a concussion.   I hate it when that happens.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"There are no menial jobs. Only menial attitudes."               

 William Bennett, 
who apparently never envisioned 

anyone having to do telemarketing for 
The UroClub, "the golf club you can pee in."

Final Thought - I

A Lot.

Be there.

Final Thought - II

Early Linipalooza events planning:

Wednesday (9/25):  Join the Corrigans, Flaherty's and Belknaps for an evening of full slabs, zesty sauce, onion rings, creamed spinach, adult beverages and lively banter.

"We're from California...
May we see your vegan menu?"

Did you know that sometime in the early 1950’s, Frank Sinatra made his first visit to Twin Anchors? Over the decades, he continued to make Twin Anchors one of his favorite stops.  The tales abound. Frank’s order was always ‘Ribs, and keep ‘em coming!’ 

Today, Twin Anchors is frequented by young and old, regular, 'normal' folk as well as the odd and the famous, including reclusive author, raconteur and mixologist Peter Behrens who is known to bring his entourage of miscreants into the restaurant every August when they lay siege to the town for a long weekend of Cubs and alcohol. Not necessarily in that order.

Friday (9/27):  Harborside International., Port course.  Update:

So far, we've got 5 takers for 8 spaces:  TC, Alvin, JP,  Ray-head, Ungie.
12:30pm: 
12:40pm: 

Operators are standing by to take your call.