East Carolina

I just did some superficial scouting of Kentucky's Liberty Bowl opponent. Here are my initial thoughts.

First, East Carolina must be located somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. And as an aside, I suppose West Carolina is somewhere in Tennessee.

I am very happy to report that the Pirates do NOT have a running quarterback. That's always good news. They haven't put up very high point totals- but neither had Tennessee or Vandy before they played UK.

No opponents in common with the Cats, so no help there. But they did crush West Virginia and Memphis, so they must be a lot better than Louisville.

I believe the Kentucky defense that showed up against Louisville, Alabama, and large chunks of the first 7 games can handle East Carolina's offense. A lesser performance is trouble.

The Kentucky offense that showed up in, well, ummmm... Did the Kentucky offense ever show up?

I may make a score prediction closer to game-time. For now I'll settle for a point-spread prediction. I'd say East Carolina will be favored by 5 1/2.

________
Two minutes later- It occurred to me that there is probably a spread available already, so I looked. Vegasinsider.com says UK is a 2 1/2 point favorite. I still think it will float closer to my line. But looking at the initial line I suppose it will probably not drift back to more than about even.
The over/under is 42. My initial impulse would be to take the under.
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How Not To Spend A Saturday

or
How To Get A Free Oil Change

I got up way too early for a Saturday, and went to work until 1:00. While working, I comforted myself with the knowledge that overtime pay is nice for Christmas shopping.

I left just as the roads were getting nasty. Well, not nasty, really. But the other idiots on the road couldn't seem to find the right speed for the weather. For example, The 50 mph speed limit section of Taylorsville Rd. could easily be traversed at 45 mph, but 1/3 of the other drivers were doing 25 mph and the rest were doing 55-60. I believe that is an unsafe combination.

I went that way instead of the expressway because I needed to stop for an oil change. I went to the Valvoline at Breckenridge/Taylorsville.

I pulled into the bay at about 1:25. The oil change took longer than usual; by the time they were done I was a little nervous because the guy under the car had been banging around a little too much and I sensed some uncertainty. It was about 2 o'clock when they finished.

Intending to go to KFC on the corner, I pulled out and crossed Taylorsville Rd. If you are familiar with the area, you know it's tricky to cross those 6 lanes quickly.

It's especially tricky when your engine revs a lot but your transmission doesn't seem to want to shift gears. I made it across without being killed, pulled into the Kmart lot and drove around a little, stopping and starting a lot to test it. There was definitely a problem.

So I again negotiated the suicidal crossing and returned to Valvoline.


I told the first guy "I've had no performance problems at all from this car for 4 years. But after an oil change here it now runs like shit."

Then I told the manager it seemed like the transmission but that I'd never had a problem with it until now.

Another hour wait while they fixed their mistakes. Turns out they'd completely drained my transmission fluid, which was checked 'ok' on the nifty little sheet they gave me after the oil change. And they'd also overfilled my oil by about 3 quarts.

Net result was a lot of hassle, hopefully no permanent damage to the car, and a free oil change. The car is running fine now.

Fun

I lucked in to checking the kentuckysportsradio blog during their live blog of the Louisville game. What fun! This blog has always been entertaining, but it has gotten a lot better since they were kicked off the radio and don't need to deal with little things like scruples.

39G.010 Kentucky Office of Homeland Security executive director -- Duties --
Delegation of duties -- Notification of disaster or emergency.
(1)
The Kentucky Office of Homeland Security shall be attached to the Office of the
Governor and shall be headed by an executive director appointed by the Governor.
(2)
The executive director shall:
(a) Publicize the findings of the General Assembly stressing the dependence on
Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth BY INCLUDING THE PROVISIONS OF KRS 39A.285(3) IN ITS AGENCY TRAINING AND EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS. The executive director shall also be responsible for
prominently displaying a permanent plaque at the entrance to the state's
Emergency Operations Center stating the text of KRS 39A.285(3);

That's the first duty of the executive director of the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security.

and KRS 39A.285 (3)? Here it is:

The General Assembly hereby finds that:
(1) No government by itself can guarantee perfect security from acts of war or
terrorism.
(2) The security and well-being of the public depend not just on government, but rest in
large measure upon individual citizens of the Commonwealth and their level of
understanding, preparation, and vigilance.
(3) The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from
reliance upon Almighty God as set forth in the public speeches and proclamations
of American Presidents, including Abraham Lincoln's historic March 30, 1863,
Presidential Proclamation urging Americans to pray and fast during one of the most
dangerous hours in American history, and the text of President John F. Kennedy's
November 22, 1963, national security speech which concluded: "For as was written
long ago: 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.' "
Effective: March 28, 2002
History: Created 2002 Ky. Acts ch. 82, sec. 2, effective March 28, 2002.

This text- this Kentucky state law- says the Commonwealth of Kentucky is not safe from terrorism and war unless I believe in God.
For a few days every year, when it's time to renew my ACLU membership, I think to myself "Is it worth it? Don't I have better uses for this money?" Now I have my answer. I'll just look at this Kentucky state law, and then I'll write the check. And include a little extra.

______________________

7 pm addition. Surfing for news about the ACLU case against the state (thank God for the ACLU, ha ha!), I found a conversation on Snopes with some great comments, like:
"Surely if God was responsible for securing the state, there would be no need for such a department at all."
and
"How would this even work? It would be like Rod and Tod Flanders on a grander level. "Thank you God for sending Homeland Security Officers to protect us from the disaster... that you also sent.""

Zoo

Fossil fuels. Cool.

Thanks for the link, Brian.

Nice coincidence that tonight's "Simpsons" was the one with the Bible stories. I liked Homer's line in the Garden of Eden. "You're pretty uptight for a naked chick."

The Day Keanu Stood Still

Ads for "The Day The Earth Stood Still" have been airing at every commercial break for a few days now.

Each time I see the ad, I imagine the director as he gets the brainstorm to cast Keanu Reeves.

"Hmmm...who can I get, who can I get? Who can I find that can recite lines that are utterly devoid of any inflection or emotion? Darn. That's a toughy. This is crucial, too. He really has to act robotic. And not 'Star Wars' robotic. No sly hidden personality. This guy's gotta show nothing. Nothing at all. Kevin Costner's too old. And really, even he might not be capable of this. I mean, he really has to be dead up there. Any sign of life will really blow it. Whoever gets this role has to be capable of--wait! I've got it! Keanu Reeves."
_________________________________________________________________

And to stick with my entertainment theme, I'll make my first non-sports prediction. (Okay, I remember I said McCain would win the election. How was I to know his campaign slogan would be "I'm a very unlikeable guy, so vote for me!" And I think I should get credit for pinpointing the exact moment that McCain lost the election, as no one else has done so.)

Anyway. "My Own Worst Enemy" has been canceled by NBC. My prediction is that it will be an very popular DVD set. It's a darned good show. I don't know how many episodes it has left, but I can see an 8 or 12 episode series selling at a pretty good rate. In fact, I suspect that might be why it wasn't yanked immediately.

Awful

Sure, a third straight bowl is nice. But I think this might be the worst Kentucky football team I've ever seen.

I do believe the SEC is usually the best conference. But watching this Kentucky team all year, I've finally realized that the only reason they haven't lost by 30+ every game is that the rest of the conference is a lot weaker than usual.
It's frustrating, because I can see a lot of signs of improvement. Both lines are deeper and more talented than in years past. The linebackers are very good. The secondary is fairly weak, but probably better than most Kentucky teams have had.
But they are just no good at the offensive skill positions. That's frustrating, because that's where Kentucky has always managed to be pretty solid.
They've had a run of pretty good quarterbacks and they've managed to find some really great running backs over the years. They usually have a couple of reliable receivers. But not this year. Neither QB is close to SEC caliber, at least at the moment. None of the receivers are any good.
They are deep at running back, but by no means outstanding.I'd be happy to have any of the current backs as the 2nd option behind an Adams, Higgs, Williams, Pinner, or Little, but none of them are good enough to be the main back.

Oh well. I'm not too discouraged. Scanning the roster and recruits, Kentucky's in pretty good shape for the future at most positions.