Take them to Detroit!
I'm happy that the Cats finally became bowl eligible, but it also says something about the system that Northwestern has a much better chance at a bowl game with a 6-6 record, while 10-2 Northern Illinois, 8-3 Toledo, 9-3 Connecticut and 8-4 Navy all could get squeezed out.

There's still a lot that needs to happen for Northwestern to go bowling, however. Michigan did beat Ohio State, which probably means both teams reach the BCS, opening up an extra Big Ten bowl spot for NU. Washington State's loss also helps, since the Rose Bowl may not be as keen on taking the second-place Cougars, assuming USC reaches the title game, although there is a push for traditional Big Ten-Pac 10 matchup.

The Big 12 likely will get two BCS bids, probably Texas and Oklahoma, although the Longhorns probably would get bumped if Kansas State pulls off the upset in the conference title game. The SEC could throw a monkey wrench if LSU reaches the conference title game but loses to the East champ.

As for some of those good teams who might not get a bid, a Colorado loss would leave the Big 12 short one team for its bowl slots, but the Fort Worth may take a more local team like Tulsa. There could be a C-USA slot available, but maybe not. That extra game allowed a few more BCS conference teams (Northwestern, Kansas, Georgia Tech) to slip into a bowl and further screwing the little guys.

It's getting to that time where I'll soon be interviewing prospective applicants to the alma mater. Most of the students I talk to are bright and usually decent people. I just hope they don't turn out like this guy, who faked two hate crime incidents to draw attention to race relations on campus. To think, there was a rally on campus in support of this guy and his cause. I think everyone will be very leery in the future anytime someone brings up a racial incident on campus.

A short visit to funny time
Just a few notes and observation from my trip to Milwaukee to visit my brother:
-- Miller Park looks pretty nice from the outside and it really looms large over the highway, although I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. One huge positive is that the Friday's in the park that overlooks left field is open all year round. It was nice to see the field even in November, although I wondered why the roof was open.
-- It's funny that the building where my brother works is right near the student union where I played CBI Regionals seven years ago (and my only real experience of the Marquette campus). It was also nice to see a Jimmy John's again, even if we didn't eat there.
-- In some ways, Milwaukee seemed like a mini-Chicago, especially the neighborhood around Bud Selig's lunch hangout, which if I weren't paying attention could be confused with either Skokie or parts of Rogers Park.
-- It's hard to beat a free brewery tour and better yet, free beer. However, half the time I was thinking I would end up like the guy in this movie. The one thing that threw me about the whole tour was that the introductory video was narrated by the guy who does all the High Life ads, so I wasn't sure whether to take that stuff seriously.
-- Surprisingly, I'd never done any real casino gambling until I went here, which wasn't far from my brother's place. Not like the place is a real hotbed like places in Vegas or Atlantic City, but the whole vibe there (not to mention being short on money and time) showed me why I haven't found a huge pressing need to go to the casino. Or maybe it's because there was a bunch of Winning for Dummies slot machines.

As for the Evanston part of the trip, which was primarily to see this drubbing:
-- I'm wondering when was the last time I went to a home football game when the weather wasn't just plain gray and dreary.
-- I totally miscalculated how many Michigan fans were going to come out for this game. I bought tickets on the "home" side and was surrounded by Wolverine fans.
-- Louis Avant did make an amazing catch, but that's only because John Navarre threw such a horrible pass. He was ridiculously wide open, like most of the receivers on Saturday.
-- I guess I never realized that the old greasy spoon next to my old apartment was a lot like this place.
-- It was very nice to see Mr. and Mrs. Evanston Gerbil and Ms. M again.

Conspiracy theory lives
I suppose there's some deeper meaning involved, but for now, I'm just going to enjoy the originality and absurdity of Bubba Ho-tep on the surface. It definitely entertained me more than The Matrix Revolutions.

I'm still trying to figure out how this got pitched to anyone: Elvis and JFK fight off a soul-sucking Egyptian mummy who's terrorizing the Texas nursing home where they live. Umm yeah. But somehow it worked like a charm, and I guess you can thank Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis, playing Elvis and JFK, for that.

What's she doing there?
The craziness continues at CTU, but now we've got a surprise visitor in everyone's favorite Headline News anchor. This should get interesting.

Guess who's back?

OK, it's been a while since I've blogged. Sorry about that.

A big reason for my absence was working on TRASH regionals questions. I think they went well across the country, and our local regional was very successful. Players of all levels seemed to enjoy the questions, and I did get to read a few humdingers between the top teams. On top of that, ThrasherGirl even got in on the action again, tag teaming with me on the scorekeeping/moderating. She's a very good reader, and I hope she can help out in Chattanooga in April.

With all the time off I've been taking lately (mainly because I've got a lot to burn), it's been high time to hit the cinema, although it's been tough trying to pick things I really want to see. So far, it's been four movies in about 10 days, I think:

Lost In Translation: The weird thing about seeing this movie was that I was the only one in the theater (granted it was a 1:30 show on a very nice Friday). Somehow it seemed pretty fitting, given the mood of the film. I did like Bill Murray's performance, although I wonder if it's "showy" enough to get the Oscar nomination many are predicting. Or maybe that's the reason why he's being considered. I'd really like to see Scarlett Johansson get some acclaim, though. It's hard to believe she's just 18 -- because she is pretty believable as a recent college graduate.

The story is pretty light, but there was just something about the whole mood/aura around the film that made it satisfying. It's hard for me to put my finger on it, other than the fact that I need to round up some people to do karaoke one of these days.

Pieces of April: Katie Holmes still proves she's the only Dawson's Creek actor with any hope of a successful career after the show because she actually has some talent. Although I couldn't help but think of her as "Joey gone bad" in this film, which was cute enough to be entertaining, although it was definitely very lightweight. I was amused with her adventures in cooking Thanksgiving dinner, but the whole other subplot of dealing with her dying mother seemed a bit forced (although Patricia Clarkson wasn't too bad in that role). I enjoyed it enough, especially given the time of year.

The Matrix Revolutions: Cooch and Evil Dave both seem to have the same feelings about this movie (and the whole franchise) as me. It took me a couple of viewings to really enjoy the first film outside of the fight scenes and special effects, which should've been a bad sign heading into the next two movies. Instead of tapping into the Matrix world, we get a lot of Zion, which I could care less about. And yes, we get more of it here, great. I'm sure there's plenty of symbolism involved with these films, but sometimes I think some people want to feel like they've gotten more out of a big budget sci-fi/action film. I felt like I needed to some completion to the whole experience by watching Revolutions, and I suppose I did, but it also makes me wonder why I even bothered with Reloaded in the first place. I think I'm like a lot of people in The Matrix -- I'm content with what's going on around me, and there is no reason to challenge that.

Elf: It seems ridiculous that there's so much Christmas stuff up in the stores already, and that one station down here is already trotting out the Christmas music. And yet here I am watching a film that probably shouldn't have been released for another couple of weeks. Still, for a silly holiday comedy, this one worked because Will Ferrell can play such a kid-like character very well. It won't be a Christmas classic, but it's not Jingle All the Way, either.

A couple of things stuck out for me: One, Zooey Deschanel seems to be competing with Reese Witherspoon and Brittany Murphy for the title of "cutest girl with the roundest eyes." But props to her for attending the alma mater.

Second, the movie seemed to be weighted down by a bunch of fat guys -- and that's not including Ed Asner as Santa Claus (a fun bit of casting there). Andy Richter and Kyle Gass had supporting roles as writers working for James Caan. Plus, Jon Favreau got to direct himself for a scene as a doctor. But I think I know why Favreau has gone behind the camera -- the dude just keeps getting bigger by the movie. I think I know why Vince Vaughn hasn't done a whole lot since Swingers -- Favreau ate him.