Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Kinda Like Brad Smith?

After months of searching, I finally came across this video, courtesy of the fine folks at Burnt Orange Nation. It's sorta lengthy, but if you have ten minutes or so, and care at all about the UTLonghorns, it's well worth the view. The video is from UT's season-opening game from the 2003 season, against New Mexico State and features, for the very first time, Vincent Young. Watch, enjoy, remember, and try not to cry...


http://www.burntorangenation.com/2008/4/22/447180/a-legend-is-born-vince-yo

Specific highlights:
-The buzz in the crowd as they realize they are about to witness the unveiling of Texas' prized recruit from 2002.
-First drive stiff-arm (2:14 mark) He's a 19 year old quarterback Stiff-Arming dudes!
-The announcers comparing him to Missouri's Brad Smith. Smith was a fine QB and is making a living with the New York Jets, but it's funny how things turned out, almost five years later.
-After Vince released his first collegiate throw the announcer's reaction: "WHOA!" Classic. (6:50 mark)
-Remembering the days when UT could put up 50+ on an over matched Sun Belt Conference team. Here's hoping those days return this fall. 122 days and counting...

-Twig

Monday, April 28, 2008

I'm Keith Hernandez!

While waiting to talk to Real World Hero's, My Current Reading...

-Twig

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Really!?!?

If this entry confuses you, please refer to the comments section from the previous post...

Would I like to interview former Real World cast members? Holy cow, yes. Michael Martin Agency, tell me the time and date and I'm there.

Also, Michael Martin Agency, is Cameran engaged to THE Jeremy Bloom, the former CU football player/professional slalom skiier?

I'm calling your bluff, Michael Martin Agency. I don't think you can get me an interview with RW roomates. Prove me wrong.

-Twig
(Michael Martin Agency, my real name is Lance, I live in Houston, Texas. I'll be in touch.)

Friday, April 25, 2008

Time To Stop Being Polite, and Start Getting Real

Yesterday for dinner, Kayla and I went to Freebirds to grab a burrito with Garrett and Michelle Oakley. (For the record, that may have been Kayla's last trip to Freebirds, but that's another story.)
As is the case when the four of us go out, Kayla and Michelle started gabbing about whatever it is they gab about, and me and Goak break off into our own conversation, which usually centers around fantasy sports, college, and how we're ready for summer.

Last night our discussion turned toward the new season of MTV's 'Real World' series. This year, the 21st (I think) season of RW, finds the crew living/making out/bickering/fighting with each other in the City of Angels, Los Angeles Hollywood, Callyfornyuh. As is the case with pretty much every season, most of the guys are tools, the girls are airheads, at least one roomate doesn't seem too happy to be there, a minumum of two roomates are/were severe alcoholics, and before the second episode has concluded, there's a pair in the house that's hooked up and professed their deep love for another housemate that they've known for less than 48 hours. Grrrreat TV.

As trashy of a show as it is, and even though I'm getting too old to watch something so very childish and more than likely losing brain cells in the process, you better believe it's on the TiVo schedule and that I'm watching every Wednesday at 10/9 Central. All of mine and Garrett's RW talk got me to thinking...'There are so many unlikeable Real World characters, out of 21 seasons and approximately 150 housmates over the years, how many do I actually like? If I could make my own personal Real World All-Star team, who would be on it?' Hmm... Without further ado, I give you the Twig Real World All-Stars!

The Guys
1) Teck, RW Hawaii- This fool was craaazzzy. I don't remember a ton about him except that he was a black dude with blond hair, and that he never exhibited the alpha-male jerkness that 96% of the guys on the show do. Also, he has had a mildly successful acting career after the show, holding a spot in Van Wilder and appearing on Friends a few episodes.

2) Ace, RW Paris- I don't actually remember much from his time on the Real World. However, I've seen him a few times on various RW/Road Rules Challenges, and he seems like fairly chill dude, one of those four percent of guys who isn't a complete you-know-what. Plus, his name is Ace, come on.

3) Randy, RW San Diego- One of the most likeabe characters on my personal favorite season. His Wickipedia page describes him as "A single man, he is said to be easygoing and able to make friends and female admirers easily." Umm, alright.

4) Isaac/Cohutta, RW Sydney- These guys go as one, since they were one the same season, and were the Sydney cast's only redeeming housmates. Both have a hilarious, very dry sense of humor, and they didn't take themselves or their situation very seriosly, which is unique to the show.


The Girls
1) Cameron, RW San Diego- When watching this season, I thought she was great because she was one of very few RW girls who was attractive and likeable. It seems like most Real World girls are either pretty and complete "meanies" (for lack of a better term) or airheads, or not-so-cute but cool and decent to be around. However, when looking her up on Wicki I found this tidbit that slightly changed my high opinion of her: She has had an on-and-off boyfriend for a year, but says that he is merely a "trophy". Oh well, at least she seemed cool on the show.

2) Coral, RW New York-Crazy chick. Picked here because of her prowess in the RW/RR Challenges. As of today, she's appeared in SIX Challenges (!?!!?) which has to be a record.

3) Trichelle, RW Las Vegas- World Class bimbo who parlayed her RW experience into various other reality shows, including the first season of VH1's Surreal Life, and E!'s Kill Reality. Of all her accomplishments, however, she'll probably always be known for being the first Real Worlder to have a pregnancy scare while filming the show! Fortunately for humanity, she wasn't, so that's good for everyone. Honestly, this shows you how slim the pickings are for the girls on this show. It's a strectch to put any of these chics on the list, but you got to work with what you're given, ya know?


So there you have it. I'll be wracking my brain the rest of the day trying to think of any other people I wouldn't mind spending four months in a house with, although I highly doubt I'm missing any quality characters. Please chime in with opinions if I'm omitting a deserving roomate.

-Twig

Monday, April 21, 2008

Say it Ain't Wojo

For today's link of the day, I found this interesting article from espn.com's Gene Wojciechowski. I'm not a gigantic fan of his, especially after his "Bill Self shouldn't sell out and leave Kansas" article last week, but this one is definitely worth a read. It proposes a pretty good idea about what to do with the one and done phenomenon in NCAA basketball.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3356296&sportCat=nba&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1

Also, as is popular on other blogs...Current Reading:

The Blind Side-Fantastic book. Recommended by J. Thomas Scott, as well as SportsRadio 610 here in Houston. It's absolutely fascinating, and I recommend it to any football fan.

-Twig

Friday, April 18, 2008

Link 'O The Day!

I'm not sure how original this made-up application to USC is, but it's worth a few laughs on a Friday afternoon.

http://irishbandofbrothers.blogspot.com/2008/04/usc-next-ivy-league-school.html

Fight On,
Twig

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

It's Like a Rusty Steak Knife Cutting Through a Well-Aged...Steak

In order to get things poppin' a little more around here, I'm gonna start posting a 'link-of-the-day.' (Or every other day, whatever works)

For today, we have a link that has do with everyones favorite Boston Sportswriter, Bill Simmons. It seems that he was going to have Barack on his podcast, the "BS Report," but ESPN nixed it at the last minute. The article isn't really super interesting, but as is the case with all articles on Deadspin, some of the comments are hi-lareeeeus, so feel free to immediately scroll down to the comments section. My favorite is from the user UkraineNotWeak. Read and enjoy...

http://deadspin.com/380323/espn-nixes-bill-simmons+barack-obama-podcast

P.S.-The pic of BO holding the Heisman is in the UT football facilities. Who says that Austin is a liberal city? Psshaww.

-Twig

Monday, April 14, 2008

Master of My Domain

You know we're getting close to the official "There are no sports on TV" phase of the year when Twig spends upwards of four hours on a Sunday afternoon watching, yes, golf. Given, it was the Masters at Augusta National, and out of the two golf events I've ever watched on TV, the Masters was one of them, the 2004 tournament when Phil finally broke through. (The other was the 2005 Ninja Invitational out at Maxwell Golf Course in Abilene, Texas. Unfortunately for me, my highlight of that day was when I found and chased down a dinosaur-sized turtle. Good times, but that doesn't speak very well of my golf skills.)

*As much as I dislike golf, I did enjoy watching the final round yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me how skilled these fools are, and how far away I am of doing anything close to resembling what they're able to do on the links. My two favorite memories of the round were watching Tiger not win, and seeing Kayla's reaction whenever the camera showed any of the competitors wives.

**I'm not necessarily a Tiger hater, but from watching him a bit over the years, his attitude rubs me the wrong way. Obviously, he's the best in the game, but the way he carries himself and acts like the world owes him something is a character trait that I just don't understand. Of all the self-centered, whiny athletes in the world, he seems to get off scott-free from the media.

***After the CBS cameras showed the wives of Phil, Tiger, and Trevor (Immelman, for those of you who aren't on a first-name basis with the Champ yet) Kayla figured, out loud, that "I guess all it takes to be a golfers wife is long, bleach-blonde hair and big..." Uhh, never mind that last part, this is a family blog and we like to keep it clean.

****After the Master's, Kayla and I went to Barnes and Noble to look for some new books. I came across the Princeton Review's Top 366 Colleges in America. In the front of the book, it had the rankings of various topics, such as 'Best Job Prospects,' 'Intramural Participation,' 'Highest SAT Scores,' 'Hardest to Get Into,' etc.

*****Of all the rankings, my favorite were the top and bottom schools for beer and hard liquor consumption, and marijuana use. Not surprisingly, BYU was at the top of each 'least-used' list. Probably also not a surprise, but the University of Texas at Austin was in the top-20 of each list, including #3 in the most beer consumption, and #5 in the most hard liquor consumption categories. As I said, the ranking wasn't much of a surprise, but to Joseph Halbert and Austin Henley-be careful out there, young men. You aren't in the ACU bubble anymore, and the world can be a scary place outside the Key City.

******Before I sign off, I want to tell the JAT faithful what to expect in the coming months. Since the sports scene is slowing down a bit, and will reeaaallly slow down after the NBA Finals in June, expect more random ramblings on life, liberty, and the pursuit of Not Electing Hillary. I'm still chasing my goal of 10 books for 2008 (I've read 6, I'm halfway through number 7 and have two books on deck) but if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to drop a line on anything worthwhile. Also, if there's anything that you're just dying to get mine or Jig's opinion on-and I'm sure there's plenty of topics you're waiting with baited breath to know what we think about-send a comment this way and we'll see what we can do for you.

-Twig

*This paragraph break is brought to you by J. Thomas Scott, Attorney at Law
**This one is brought to you by JT Scott, Jig and Twig Ombudsman
***This here paragraph break is sponsored by Running Down a Dream
****Paragraph break 4 is brought to you in part by Baylor Law and Grammar School
*****Numero Cinco is sponsored by Dos Equis and Rock-A-Fire
******Paragraph Six is a gift from Scotty J, your friendly neighborhood blog commentor

Friday, April 11, 2008

Call me Maverick, So Dangerous

In an event eerily reminiscent of GSP's 2004 Sing Song Act, a real life 'Top Gun' gets his request for a fly-by revoked. Pilot ignores instruction, suspension ensues.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-fenwaypilotgrounded&prov=ap&type=lgns

Airline pilots beware of us,
Twig

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

I Think...

In honor of JAT's first post of the month, I'm going to do my impression of Sports Illustrated's Peter King, and post my version of "Ten Things I Think I Think..."

I Think:
1) That Monday night's overtime Championship game saved what was, until that point, a very mediocre Tournament.

2) John Calipari would be a great used-car salesman. ("No, no, don't worry about the squeaky breaks, I promise, they'll work when you really need them. For real, this thing's a beauty.")

3) It would be awesome if the Rangers continued this lose-win-lose-win-lose streak. Everyone knows they aren't making the playoffs, so it would be fantastic if they finish the year at 81-81 by alternating wins and losses all season. Of course, now that I've jinxed them, they'll go on a ten game losing streak and be mathematically eliminated by my birthday. (Bonus points for anyone who knows when that is.)

4) This years NFL Draft should be fantastic. There really isn't anyone who's guaranteed to go anywhere, so it oughta be pretty entertaining to see how it all shakes out.

5) The Cowboys should trade for both Pacman and Ocho Cinco. Why not?

6) Slip-and-slide Bingo, or whatever you want to call it, is the wave of the future. I demand that it be included in the Summer Olympics by 2024. Or at least shown on ESPN 7 Tuesday nights at 10:30.

7) That if Kayla and I end up going to Tech for grad school next year, it's gonna very weird rooting for the Raiders. I like them just fine, and with the exception of when they play UT, I'll do my darndest to cheer for them, but still, gosh.

8) That DJ Augustin may actually stay in school. If I were him, I'd be declaring for sure. However, he isn't in the situation where he has to provide for his family, and he seems to be a pretty good student, and if he does come back, the Horns would be on the short list of Tourney favorites. If I were to bet, I'd say he's gone, but you never know...

9) The NBA Champion will come from the East. I want the Spurs to win, and I'm aware that approximately 9 of the 12 best teams in the League reside in the West, but after the way they're going to beat up on each other in the playoffs, I don't know if they'll have enough to beat the winner of the Detroit/Boston winner. (Let's face it, if the Pistons and Celtics don't face each other in the East Finals, everyone will be shocked.)

10) If the Seattle/OKC Sonics get the number one pick in the draft, they should select DRose from Memphis. Think about that young nucleus-KD, Jeff Green, and Rose--yikes. In a few years, they could be yet another team in the very very deep West.

That's all I've got, stay tuned for more mindless predictions and thoughts that don't really mean anything. This is Twig, signing off.