1. How ’bout those Broncos?
2. Leftovers and cupcakes
3. The badger is a dangerous animal
I. How ’bout those Broncos?
It’s a weak football weekend; it’s just ‘championship’ games and other season-enders, such as that embarrassing Oregon State affair (it was supposed to be their first game of the season). Our TV doesn’t really receive (m)any channels, but ESPN lets me catch some games on the computer, though usually the selection stinks.
Today I got lucky and could watch the second half of BSU vs. Nevada down in Reno. Last night my father called and left a message; I heard it and noticed that his voice was nearly gone … so I suspect he didn’t make the flight or drive to watch the game. Though I’m also sure he would have loved to have been there.
For those who do not follow BSU football (and I only do, really, because of the family connection), Nevada has ruined BSU’s season the past two year running. This year BSU is having an off-year anyway, though still as good or better than most expected or hoped for. And this time they scored early and often against the Wolfpack.
But oh that Nevada quarterback … fast, dangerous … able to get away from five men chasing him in the backfield on third down and make a first down out of it. A little stop here, another there, and suddenly BSU can’t run out the clock and with only 17 seconds remaining Nevada has the ball and, a couple plays later, a last gasp to try to reach the endzone and win it.
This year, though, they fall short, and BSU celebrates … though not for want of trying to give the game away (where did the defense go in the 4th quarter?).
And so when I do talk with my father — when his voice is back, when we get around to calling each other — we’ll have this game to talk about.
II. Leftovers and cupcakes
We only have two episodes of ‘Oz’ remaining now. Tobias is back in Emerald City, and Cyril avoided death … for now. It was touching and very well acted and directed. I’ll be sad to see this show go; seasons ago I never would have suspected that I’d care about Cyril. I also never would have suspected the warden of being quite this dense. Ah, Ernie.
Earlier in the day we also got in an episode of ‘The X-Files’ … “Ice,” the season 1 episode that (1) is basically an ‘X-Files’ take on ‘The Thing,’ and (b) an introduction of sorts to the black oil we get later. And oh does Xander Berkeley look relatively young here … I’d most recently seen him in some episodes of ‘Nikita’ before I stopped watching that show. I was trying to place where’d seen Jeff Kober (the pilot) before … then I recalled that he’s in ‘Buffy’ for a while. And Felicity Huffman … the ‘guest star’ list for this episode is sort of interesting after-the-fact.
Leftovers. Recycling.
Today I finished the last of the baked penne & cheese. Still delicious. It went well with a side of red beans … a big batch I made several days ago. And today I opened the bag of mustard greens … a bit spicier on their own than the turnip greens, but also a bit more tender, taking less time cooking to be soft and such. Simmer them in a bit of vegetable broth, mustard, and cider vinegar, sprinkled with red pepper flakes, and you have a tasty and healthful side dish. Even 4oz fresh will yield only about 28-30 calories.
We also had cupcakes left over from the batch Ms. S. bought and decorated for me (ah, Stargate symbols all over them), and so first I calculated my “real” food for the day and then allowed myself to fill in some blanks with cupcake treats.
This evening, though, I feared the girls were going to kill me, take my cupcake, and then devour my corpse. Ms. S. was in the bedroom getting ready for work. I sat on the sofa, cupcake in hand, and was licking the frosting from its top. Suddenly A appeared to my left and stepped on to my thigh, eyeing my cupcake with great feline desire. I was able to palce my arm and body between her and the pastry, but as I peeled back paper and presented its moist chocolate body to my waiting teeth, E sprang up on the back of the sofa and appoached along the sofa’s arm along my right side, where she then perched herself hawklike. Me or the cupcake … I was almost ready to give it to them and run away in fear … but never, ever show fear to a cat.
They only ever paw us or sniff us to see whether we’re alive. If we’re close enough to death, or if we show fear … they’ll pounce.
So I swallowed that delightful little cake, folded its paper wrapper, stood, and strode from the cats with authority.
Never let them see you sweat.
III. The badger is a dangerous animal
And then there are the Cornhuskers … I suspect all they did today was sweat. And lose.
They were supposed to win this game handily … they’d only lost twice, they had a better record, and the Badgers had lost three of their last four, ending up 3rd in their division and 7-5 overall (4-4 in the conference).
And yet when I check in midway through the 3rd quarter the game is 63-17 in favor of Wisconsin.
It was also a game that ESPN was not showing online (or perhaps at all), so all I could do was catch the online, slowly updated play-by-play. And play by play, tick by tick of the clock, the game progressed and to the extent that Nebraska got any closer it was essentially meaningless and in garbage time.
A third straight Rose Bowl for the Badgers. And nobody will be surprised if they get blown out by Stanford. They’ve already lost once this year to the Pac10 … er, 12.
