Jerks!

From The Associated Press

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK – A second man has been charged over damage to a geyser area at Yellowstone National Park, accused of not stopping a friend who drove his truck in circles on the geyser’s fragile soil before getting stuck.

Austin B. Olsen, 19, of Battle Ground, Wash., was charged Wednesday with aiding and abetting Adam R. Elford, 22, of Vancouver, Wash., in the Oct. 10 incident. Workers have spent more than 80 hours trying to repair the damage.

New Coaches Poll

ESPN.com – College Football Rankings

The new Top 25 (with remaining scheduled opponent).

  1. Oklahoma 12-0
  2. USC 10-1 (Oregon State)
  3. LSU 10-1 (Arkansas)
  4. Michigan 10-2
  5. Georgia 9-2 (Georgia Tech)
  6. Texas 9-2 (Texas A&M)
  7. Ohio State 10-2
  8. Tennessee 9-2 (Kentucky)
  9. Florida State 9-2 (Florida)
  10. Miami 9-2 (Pittsburgh)
  11. Florida 8-3 (Florida State)
  12. Iowa 9-3
  13. Purdue 9-3
  14. Washington State 9-3
  15. Kansas State 10-3
  16. Miami (Ohio) 10-1 (Central Florida)
  17. TCU 10-1 (SMU)
  18. Boise State 10-1 (Nevada)
  19. Mississippi 8-3 (Mississippi State)
  20. Virginia Tech 8-3 (Virginia)
  21. Pittsburgh 8-3 (Miami)
  22. Minnesota 9-3
  23. Nebraska 8-3 (Colorado)
  24. Oklahoma State 9-3
  25. Bowling Green 9-2 (Toledo)

He Proves Mom Will Take One for Team

From the Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times

University of Miami linebacker D.J. Williams recently told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that when he was a sophomore at Concord De La Salle High, he had to complete a questionnaire that included the query: “What would you do if your mother was returning a kickoff?”

Williams talked his mother, Sherri Gonzalez, into putting on his uniform, kicked the ball to her and then “hit her pretty good” as a video camera rolled.

Williams then showed the tape to his coaches and earned a spot on special teams.

Largest college stadiums

The attendance at Michigan Stadium Saturday was an all-time college record: 112,118.

Michigan’s is the largest stadium. Can you name the other three that exceed 100,000? Answer in Comment(s).

Update: See here for a list of the 30 largest college stadiums.

What’s a Wildcat?

Surely among the most common names for college mascots.

University of Arizona Wildcats
University of Kentucky Wildcats
Northwestern University Wildcats
Kansas State Wildcats
Villanova University Wildcats
University of New Hampshire Wildcats
Weber State Wildcats
Davidson College Wildcats
Chico State Wildcats
Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats
Louisiana College Wildcats

What’s a Hokie?

From hokiesports.com

The answer leads all the way back to 1896 when Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College changed its name to Virginia Polytechnic Institute. With the change came the necessity for writing a new cheer and a contest for such a purpose was held by the student body.

Senior O.M. Stull won first prize for his “Hokie” yell which is still used today. Later, when asked if “Hokie” had any special meaning, Stull explained the word was solely the product of his imagination and was used only as an attention-getter for his yell. It soon became a nickname for all Tech teams and for those people loyal to Tech athletics.

The official university school colors – Chicago Maroon and Burnt Orange – also were introduced in 1896. The colors were chosen by a committee because they made a ‘unique combination’ not worn elsewhere at the time. The official definition of “hokie” is “a loyal Virginia Tech Fan”.

The HokieBird…has evolved from a turkey.

Virginia Tech teams were once called the “gobblers”!

Being cool

Anoki, Kiska, Koluk and Lear – the Rio Grande Zoo’s polar bears – got to act cool last Super Bowl Sunday. The bears appeared in a Sierra Mist commercial during the Super Bowl.

Crews filmed the bears at the zoo December 9th, a cold day — never warmer than 46 degrees — but the commercial depicts the day as hot, hot, hot. So hot that two baboons (filmed elsewhere) try to beat the heat by building a seesaw so one of them can catapult the other into the cool water of the polar bear’s swimming pool.

Stardom hasn’t changed the bears, said Rick Janser, the zoo’s mammal curator. “The next day they went out like nothing happened” Janser said. “Polar bears are at the top of the food chain. Pretty much nothing fazes them”

[NewMexiKen photo 2001. Click to enlarge.]

Just spell ABC right

From The Morning Briefing in the Los Angeles Times

“Loren Matthews, executive vice president of programming for ABC Sports, on all the controversy surrounding the BCS standings: “When you’re in the television business, controversy is not necessarily a bad thing. Just spell ABC right.”

Odds are, Buckeyes don’t have a prayer

Iffy The Dopester

Iffy’s not a computer person. Few people his age are unless they’re hooked up to one. Yet there’s no escaping the long arm of IBM.

Each Monday, Iffy eagerly awaits the posting of the Bowl Championship Series poll, the computerized rankings that measure the nation’s top college football teams. It’s not that Iffy’s a disciple of the system, but he finds the BCS poll an interesting amalgam of all the components that go into rating college teams.

Now that’s saying a mouthful, so it should also be said, quickly, that the BCS poll is a hard one to swallow, despite its appeal to Iffy. F’rinstance, if Ohio State is the second-best team in the country, as the BCS’ers maintain, why are the Buckeyes a touchdown underdog to No. 9 Michigan in today’s tussle at Ann Arbor?

Iffy is laugh out loud funny. Read the whole column.

Ohio has its charm — really

From the Detroit Free Press

Granted, Ohio and Michigan haven’t always acted neighborly.

They almost went to war over Toledo. Two men — one a University of Michigan student, the other a Detroiter — assassinated two presidents from Ohio, James Garfield and William McKinley, respectively. Ohioans — may we call you Ohioans? — derisively refer to Michigan as “that state up north.”

Despite this occasional animosity, the day of the 100th game between U-M and Ohio State and the end of Ohio’s bicentennial year seems like a suitable time to salute our neighbors downwind of the Fermi II nuclear plant in the land of smooth roads, vigilant troopers and a catchy jingle (“What’s ‘HI’ in the middle and round on the ends? O-HI-O”)….

The final word goes to Baptist minister Bill Kisseberth, 69, who has the best of both worlds. Kisseberth’s house is in Toledo, but most of his 48-acre property is in Michigan.

Asked if he notices any differences between the two states, Kisseberth quipped: “Only at this time of year.”

While Kisseberth’s house, horse barn and other animal pens are in Toledo, about 39 acres sits in Michigan. The state line is just behind a swing set.

For kicks, Kisseberth straddles the imaginary line, shaking his right fist and chanting “Michigan” then shaking his left fist and chanting “Ohio.”

“I love both places,” he said, as he stepped back into Ohio. “I love living in Toledo. Been here my whole life.”

He then walked across the border. “I also enjoy my time in Michigan,” he said. “It’s beautiful here.”

Kisseberth then took one step back, placing his left foot in Ohio.

“They’re both special places, neither better than the other.”

‘You can live through your writing’ author tells pupils

From the West Valley View:

Author Debby Buchanan doesn’t fancy herself a fortune-teller, seer or any other sort of oracle who can see into the future. It was just coincidence that made her visit to Scott Libby Elementary School last week so unique.

When the children’s book writer — she penned “It Rained on the Desert Today” — stopped by the campus Nov. 12, it rained on the desert that day.

Politicians need to know
which way the wind doth blow

Winged Victory, a 16-foot high weather vane, adorns the dome of the Arizona Capitol. With a purchase price of $160 the weather vane was less expensive than a traditional statue. She was designed after the Greek statue Nike of Samothrace with arms and head added. Her right hand holds the torch of liberty and her left hand presents a victory wreath. In the 1950s the legislature had her immobilized to face the front of the Capitol. Once restoration was completed in 1981, the Winged Victory was set free to turn in the wind once again.

[NewMexiKen photo 2003. Click to enlarge]