"Water For Elephants" was very good. Thanks to my wonderful parents for the recommendation (and loan of the book).

It was a great story. The only problem I had was with one of the blurbs on the back cover. It ruined it a bit for me (okay, not 'ruined' just put a damper on it). The publishers should have selected a non-spoiler blurb. But I liked it.

If I Was 6, This Would Have Been The Best Day Of My Life!

Yesterday morning I walked over to watch the inflating of the balloons. I didn't see much- I think they started a little late because of the weather.
Then this morning as I was reading the news I kept hearing a funny noise and couldn't figure out what it was. I finally realized it was hot air balloons. I stepped out to my porch with my camera and watched for awhile. They passed quite close as they were coming in to land.

This afternoon I took a walk at the zoo. Most of the animals were active- even the lions were walking around (watching the zebras and the little kids. It must be like living at a Sbarro but never getting to eat pizza).
The camels were actually the highlight of the zoo trip. They were right up next to the fence, eating leaves off the trees and chewing up the fence rails. Since they are usually lying down I tend to forget how big they actually are (very big) and how long their necks are (very long).

Post-game rehash again

Pitiful, overall. The Gators are much better than Kentucky, obviously. But they are much better than everyone else, too, so how come the teams UK beats or almost beat don't look anywhere near as pathetic as the Cats against Florida?

Kentucky's week was saved by the 3rd quarter sack. Tim Tebow's trip to the hospital means ESPN will replay that hit 1500 times this week. Endless replays of a nice sack beat the heck out of replaying a 30-yard run or a touchdown pass.

Three games into the season and I still have no clue whether Kentucky is any good. The flu bug they are certain to catch from Florida won't help. (I mean 'respiratory ailment.' I guess if you call it something other than the flu it justifies going out in public and passing it along. I've never seen so many people puking from a respiratory ailment. Who knew we carried so much undigested food in our lungs?) The defense seems to have decent speed and strength but no idea how to tackle. the offense looks brilliant about 1/4 of the time, and clueless the rest.

I had a very boring week. It was great!

I'm sure I'll miss softball by sometime around New Year's, but right now it was terrific to have no games. I tentatively planned to stay home every night this week. I didn't quite manage it, but that's okay; I had a good time at Joe's Wednesday night with Brian.

Since I did a glorious lot of nothing this week, I thought I'd post about tomorrow's massacre- I mean the UK/Florida game. However, after reading the Kentuckysportsradio blog (on my link list for quite some time now) I realized I have nothing to top it. So I recommend checking it out. The Florida game-related posts are all terrific. I think my favorite was "(Florida women)... are looser than Charlie Weis’s bathrobe on a Chinese gymnast," but there is lots of quality humor.

Since that site's wonderful bloggers have done my football work for me, I'll spend the rest of this evening reading. Then tomorrow I'll be a bit more active. Not sure what I'll be doing, exactly. The weather will be a factor, but I have a balloon festival next door, plenty of college football, and UK (and even UofL) playing tomorrow night. Plus Johnny Meyer's 2nd birthday party.

Oh, I almost forgot my game prediction: 45-13 Florida. It will be closer than that most of the game, but by that I mean Florida will be up by 17 or 20 very early and then the game will be close the rest of the way. I (like Dad) think Kentucky will probably play better. But the result will still be ugly.

I sure wish the Cats had a bye week after Alabama, rather than the 2nd week of the season.

And one more thing. Kentucky is 3 and 8 all-time against #1 ranked teams. Who wouldn't take that record?

Post-game Diagnosis

I am quite happy, though after that dismal performance I expect I'm in the minority among UK fans.

Since Brooks has been Kentucky's coach his teams have played one or two absolute clunkers per season. This was definitely one, and it was a victory. And U of L is not that awful. Kentucky will see better teams the rest of the season, but Louisville played pretty well, and Victor Anderson is the best running back the Cats will face this year.

Kentucky survived a day of lousy tackling and incredibly sloppy ball-handling. They have one or two games like that every year. I always hope those games come against either a team they manage to beat anyway, or against someone like Florida who would win no matter what. This time it came in a lucky win.

I'm pleased. I'd still love to see an offensive line that can run block and a defense that can put pressure on a third-and-long pass, but otherwise I'm okay with the game. I'm not too worried about the tackling or the ball-protection; at the moment I'm prepared to just call it an off-game with a fortunate result.

Also, I haven't been a big Pat Forde fan lately, but he deserves credit for his call this week at ESPN.com. It's not exactly a prediction, but here's what he had to say about USC/Washington.

... the following teams should be on upset alert (or at least scare alert) this week:

USC (11) -- The Trojans were a marvelous self-sustained energy force Saturday in The Horseshoe, jumping en masse and dancing and shouting to each other all game long. "We stayed with the juice on the sidelines," coach Pete Carroll said, approvingly. "It was 100 guys versus everyone in the world, it seemed like. We were just trying to create as much energy as possible. We needed every single guy jumping."

So what happens this week, when USC travels to Seattle to play a Washington team it has beaten seven straight seasons? A Washington team that went winless in 2008, including a 56-0 loss to the Trojans?

Will they be jumping all game long again?

Meanwhile, Washington finally won a game last week and is coached by former Carroll assistant Steve Sarkisian -- with former Carroll assistant Nick Holt as defensive coordinator. Rest assured, the Huskies and their coaches have had this game in their sights far longer than USC and will have the Trojans scouted right down to their sweat socks.

I'll redact that cornhole slander, then. I've played quite a lot of games with and against both players, and in my professional opinion it's easier to believe Brian won.

12:25? Not bedtime yet...

...but it's close.

The Yogi season ended with a split-doubleheader tonight, leaving us at 5 and 5 for the fall.
I think we stunk in the fall league. It was a darned good league and I'm not exactly unhappy with our record, but we played much worse in the losses than we should have done.

I'm not sure if I'm done for the year or not. I'm told I might be called to sub, or to play in a tournament or two, and I'll probably say yes. I won't put my equipment away yet but I'll assume I'm done unless I hear otherwise.

That's good news for my poor little brother. I hear he had sand kicked in his face in a cornhole game at Joe's last night.

Now I'll be willing to help you out, Brian, if you come across some beanbag-throwing bullies on Wednesday nights. I'm much more willing to help you out on Wednesdays if I'm not out late on Tuesdays and Thursdays. ( I can't believe you lost a cornhole game to Chris Rapp. I'm probably 100-0 lifetime against him. And he says he was partnered with Nick, who can't even throw a ball back to the mound straight from catcher. Jeeze...)

Giggity Giggity

UK/UofL Prediction Time

I'd actually prefer to put this off until Friday night, but I want to make sure my legions (6) of loyal readers have time to benefit from my profound knowledge and get to their bookies.

Wildcats: 27
Dirty Birds: 16

So with the betting line hovering at UK-13 it might be too close to bet the bank. I don't know the over/under but I'd imagine that my pick is also right on the line.

I think UK has a definite edge on both the offensive and defensive lines. I prefer our linebackers, too. Special teams are a toss-up. Even with Lindley, the defensive backfields are pretty much a toss-up. The offensive skill positions are still largely question marks, except Victor Anderson is a known stud for Louisville.

Still, I saw enough out of UK's QB and receivers to know they will not cause a defeat, and Anderson will face a tough challenge from UK's defense. The difference-maker will be control of the lines. UK wins.

As to how the game will progress, I'm guessing uglily. Is that a word?

Both head coaches have shown a tendency to start conservatively and feel the other team out before taking chances. I'd therefore expect little scoring for the first 20+ minutes. By then UK will probably have established field position advantage, plus perhaps a big play or two- either by the defense or by breaking a long gain from Cobb, Smith, or Locke.

Then the rest of the game will be controlled by the Cats. It won't be extreme domination but it will be definite.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the big rumor of the day. Jon Gruden was spotted leaving Tom Jurich's office. Cards fans are excited.

I played 6 softball games yesterday. I admit I was a little (a lot) tired and sore today. But just a little (a lot). We lost in the finals.

It was a co-ed tournament. After the second game, I mentioned that the last time I played co-ed softball was 1987.
And my teammates started chiming in with:
"1987? I was in kindergarten."
"I was two."
"I was in 4th grade."
"I wasn't born yet."
and so on.

There was only one player close to my age. Our pitcher was a year younger than me. When he found out I graduated from St. X in 1989 he asked if I knew his cousin, John Evans.

"Evans?" I asked. "I don't think so. Oh, wait, was he a big goofy guy who decided for a while in the early 90's to become a skinhead and join the Michigan militia, or something like that? The last I heard of him he was living in a cabin somewhere in central Kentucky and sending crazy manifestos to all the newspapers."

Okay, actually, I said John is one of my best friends, and that regrettably I haven't see nearly enough of him the last few years, and I swore (yet again) to myself that I would rectify that soon.
And once Mike told me that John was his cousin, I couldn't believe I hadn't already figured it out. For one thing, I think I've met him once or twice over the last 25 years or so. Also, they look very much alike.

While driving to work Tuesday, the IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) light on my dashboard came on, and stayed on.

I took the car into the dealer Thursday morning. They checked it out, and told me I needed a new IMA modulator. I agreed I really did need an Illudium Q-36
Explosive Space Modulator, because the Earth was obstructing my view of Venus.
Then the guy said no, no, it's an IMA modulator. It modulates the amount of assistance the hybrid battery gives the engine.

I said Oh.
And then I said How much will that cost?

I found out today that the part will be in next week sometime, which is a little vague. But the good news is it is still under warranty and won't cost anything.

Softball goes on and on and on and on...

We won tonight to move our fall record to 4-3. It was a big win against a very good team.
I'm getting a bit tired and I'm not minding the idea of the end of the softball season, and yet...

This week I agreed to
A) playing in a Wednesday night league. I'm not fully committed. I've advised the team to look for someone else, but if they still need an infielder I might be playing with them through October.
B) a tournament Saturday at Turners. Brian, if you read this tomorrow, my first game Saturday is scheduled for 12:15. I'm quite willing to help you move, but the only time I can guarantee my availability is from 7 am to about 11:30. I hope that works, but I'd imagine I'll also be available all day Sunday.
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Non-softball
Two months ago I got a new neighbor. His 25 square-feet of porch now contains a dozen plants, a couple of small tables, and a bird feeder ( I took a picture but haven't downloaded (uploaded?) it yet). A few of the plants are of a type I don't recognize, but there are 3 or 4 pepper plants and 3 or 4 tomato plants. Over the last month or so one of the highlights of my day has become the flurry of small animal activity that accompanies my arrivals and departures.

When I leave for work early in the morning not much happens. The critters are still asleep, I guess. But in the afternoon and evenings when I leave my apartment, I witness a burst of a dozen birds or so scattering from the porch. Then, as I round the corner, I almost always see a squirrel or two rooting around. They notice me and then scram, frequently making a spectacular 18-foot leap from the balcony to the nearest small tree in the courtyard. It's pretty cool- especially because I'm always surprised, and the frantic activity always catches me off-guard.

Still, it's nice to know that if the squirrels ever get on my nerves I know just who to call. The legend of the Squirrel Terminator strikes fear in the hearts of every fuzzy-tailed rat in the I-65 to I-64 corridor.

Books and Movies

I went out to Half-Price Books Sunday and was excited to see the 20% off Labor Day sale. I decided I would browse the music, movies, and books and try to find quite a few purchases. My goal was 4 books, 2 DVDs, and 2 CDs.

I must not have been in the right mood, though.

First, I only found 1 book that really interested me. I''ve just started Gregory Maguire's "Lost." I've read 3 or 4 others of his and I have high hopes.

I didn't get any music, but I bought two DVDs. I bought "Memento," which I've seen before and which seemed like a good movie to own. It's interesting, and it seems like the kind of movie that might reveal some missed details with repeated viewing, plus it's a good one to loan to friends. I also bought "28 Days Later." I just recently told Dad it was the only really scary movie I've seen in quite a few years. I'm hoping my brothers and I can watch it as part of a double-or-triple-feature Halloween-type movie night.

I finished "Lonesome Dove" this evening. It was better than I expected and not as good as I had hoped.

I put off reading it for several years because it did not seem too appealing to me, but Dad and quite a few other people recommended it. So my own preconception led to my low expectations, and others' high opinions led to the high hopes.

It was a good story and well-written, and I enjoyed it.

I do have to wonder about Dad, though. I sat in his living room a couple of weeks ago saying I'd just read five Cormac McCarthy novels that were all good but very depressing, and I needed a change-of-pace. And so Dad recommends yet another cowboy novel that is good but depressing.

League Champions? Bah!

An operator (me) error deleted my last softball post. I wish I hadn't screwed that up, because it's awfully relevant now.Four games into the fall, we are 1 and 3. It's a tough league, but we are playing so poorly that babies should flip us the bird.

I've never been the type to yell at someone. But I was tempted to do my best Bobby Knight tonight. We lost 22-5 and didn't show an ounce of life.

I sat out. And I suffered. It took a fair amount of effort not to scream at my teammates. There were very few signs of life from our side.

The other team was pretty good. We were listless and stupid. I thought this would be an opportune time to relax, check out new players, and give some other guys a chance to play. But I'm not sitting again this fall. I can't make up a 17-run deficit, but there are obviously not 10 guys on this team who want to play more than me. So they aren't going to.

The game ended two and a half hours ago and I've gotten madder and madder. There is no excuse for a piece of &#@* performance like that. I have less physical talent than almost every player we had on the field tonight, but 10 of me would have won the game. That's incredibly frustrating.