and I had to give her away. My middle child and only daughter got married Nov. 1. As happy as I am for the couple, the wedding and giving her away was tough. But maybe tougher was taking them to the airport this morning so they could wing away to Okinawa, Japan. My new son-in-law is in the Air Force and stationed there at least until May 2010. I already miss my little girl and am not handling knowing that we won't see her for quite a while very well. Oh, I'm sure we will visit (once I get a job) and we can talk face to face with Skype, but it just ain't the same. Some parts of parenting are extremely bittersweet.
On a better note, last night our new son-in-law presented us with a flag flown over the base in Iraq when he was there earlier this year, along with a certificate thanking us for supporting him. It was signed by a master sergeant and major over the Ali Air Base. It's pretty cool. I opened the edge of it a while ago and it actually has a little sand in it and a small dead moth of some sort. Also, at the airport early this morning, we ran into Congressman Howard Coble who stopped and talked to us and thanked my son-in-law for his service. The counter attendant also bumped them up free to first class for the domestic flight to the west coast. He was a former serviceman as well. I appreciate people appreciating our veterans and active service personnel.
Finally, indulge me one picture of my daughter. The photographer took 400 pictures for the wedding portrait and 1500 at the wedding. But this one picture I really like the best (no, it's not her portrait picture). Fortunately she looks a lot more like her mom than her dad. (I hope this works.)

He was hoping OBL would win as a write-in.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11...sultingly/

Quote:WARNING:
Do not attempt to install if drunk, pregnant or both.
Do not eat antenna
Do not throw antenna at spouse.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081119/D94HVGT00.html

She lost the tools.

This is like the cosmic metaphor of every man's workshop.

Bad break to the wrist
Surgery today
Can't travel to Hawaii w/ team as a result
Likely done for the season

*
sucks

Gametime Matchup TV Announcers (including sideline reporters where applicable)
Tuesday, November 18
7:00 PM ET Northern Illinois at Kent State

Wednesday, November 19
7:00 PM ET No. 17 Ball State at Central Michigan ESPN2 Todd Harris, Ray Bentley

Thursday, November 20
7:30 PM ET No. 23 Miami (FL) at Georgia Tech ESPN Chris Fowler, Craig James, Jesse Palmer, Erin Andrews
9:05 PM ET Grambling State vs. Texas Southern @San Antonio ESPNU Charlie Neal, Jay Walker

Friday, November 21
6:00 PM ET Buffalo at Bowling Green
7:00 PM ET Miami (OH) at Toledo
9:30 PM ET Fresno State at San Jose State ESPN2 Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, Rob Stone

Saturday, November 22
12:00 PM ET Michigan at No. 10 Ohio State ABC Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire, Stacey Dales
12:00 PM ET North Carolina State at No. 22 North Carolina Raycom/GP Bill Rosinski, Jeff Bostic, Scott Pryzwansky
12:00 PM ET West Virginia at Louisville ESPN Dave Pasch, Andre Ware
12:00 PM ET Yale at Harvard Versus Rich Ackerman, Dale Hellestrae, Bob Harwood
12:00 PM ET Army at Rutgers SNY/ALT/CST/GP Mike Gleason, John Congemi, Quint Kessenich
12:00 PM ET Clemson at Virginia Raycom/GP Steve Martin, Rick "Doc" Walker, Mike Hogewood
12:00 PM ET Dayton at Jacksonville
12:00 PM ET New Hampshire at Maine
12:00 PM ET Butler at Davidson
12:00 PM ET Indiana at Purdue ESPN2 Pam Ward, Ray Bentley
12:00 PM ET Richmond at William & Mary CSN Regional^ Bob Picozzi, Scott Brunner
12:00 PM ET Furman at Wofford CSS Chuck Hussion, Brian Jordan
12:05 PM ET Missouri State at Indiana State
12:30 PM ET Columbia at Brown
12:30 PM ET Tennessee at Vanderbilt Raycom/GP Dave Neal, David Archer, Dave Baker
1:00 PM ET Delaware State at Howard
1:00 PM ET Rhode Island at Northeastern
1:00 PM ET James Madison at Towson
1:00 PM ET Dartmouth at Princeton
1:00 PM ET Pennsylvania at Cornell
1:00 PM ET Eastern Michigan at Temple
1:00 PM ET North Dakota at South Dakota
1:00 PM ET Lehigh at Lafayette MASN/FCS-Atlantic Steve Degler, Marty Horn, Jim Vaughn
1:00 PM ET Fordham at Bucknell
1:00 PM ET Holy Cross at Colgate Time Warner-NY Joe Brown, Dale Drypolcher, Danny Liedka
1:00 PM ET Elon at Liberty The Liberty Channel Mike Tilley, Ray Jones, Samantha Steele
1:00 PM ET Campbell at Morehead State
1:00 PM ET Hampton at Morgan State
1:00 PM ET Savannah State at North Carolina Central
1:00 PM ET Bryant at St. Francis (PA)
1:00 PM ET Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee-Martin
1:00 PM ET Drake at Valparaiso
1:30 PM ET The Citadel at No. 4 Florida SUN-PPV Larry Vettel, Nat Moore, Steve Babik
1:30 PM ET South Carolina State at North Carolina A&T
1:30 PM ET Presbyterian at Virginia Military
1:30 PM ET Norfolk State at Winston-Salem
2:00 PM ET Bethune-Cookman vs. Florida A&M @Orlando ESPN Classic Eric Collins, Shaun King
2:00 PM ET Southeastern Louisiana at Nicholls State
2:00 PM ET Tennessee State at Murray State
2:00 PM ET UCF at Memphis
2:00 PM ET Samford at UT-Chattanooga
2:00 PM ET Jackson State at Alcorn State ESPNU Dwayne Ballen, Eddie Robinson Jr.
2:00 PM ET Southeast Missouri State at Austin Peay
2:00 PM ET Alabama A&M at Mississippi Valley State
2:00 PM ET Colorado State at Wyoming The Mtn. James Bates, Todd Christensen
2:05 PM ET Montana State at Montana KPAX Phil Buck, Grady Bennett, Erik Buerkle
2:05 PM ET Eastern Washington at Weber State
2:05 PM ET Youngstown State at Western Illinois FCS-Central Scott Warmann, Mike Maslowski, Mick Shaffer
2:30 PM ET Villanova at Delaware CN8 Scott Graham, Jon Ritchie, Gregg Murphy
2:30 PM ET Syracuse at Notre Dame NBC Tom Hammond, Pat Haden, Alex Flanagan
2:30 PM ET Hofstra at Massachusetts CN8/YES Jeff Rickard, Bob Norton, John Carchedi
2:30 PM ET Arkansas at Mississippi State
2:30 PM ET Southern Illinois at Illinois State
2:30 PM ET Eastern Illinois at Tennessee Tech
3:00 PM ET Tulane at Tulsa
3:00 PM ET Northern Iowa at Southern Utah
3:00 PM ET Washington at Washington State FSN-South^^ Barry Tompkins, Petros Papadakis, Jim Watson
3:00 PM ET Florida Atlantic at Arkansas State CSS/GP Sam Smith, Doug Graber
3:00 PM ET Texas State at Sam Houston State
3:00 PM ET Appalachian State at Western Carolina SportSouth Tom Werme, Sam Wyche
3:30 PM ET No. 15 Michigan State at No. 8 Penn State ESPN2^^^ Mike Patrick, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe
3:30 PM ET Air Force at No. 16 TCU Versus Joe Beninati, Glenn Parker, Tim Neverett
3:30 PM ET Mississippi at No. 18 LSU CBS Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson
3:30 PM ET Stanford at California GP^^^ Rob Stone, Chris Spielman, Jessica Mendoza
3:30 PM ET Illinois at Northwestern BTN Thom Brennaman, Charles Davis, Charissa Thompson
3:30 PM ET Boston College at Wake Forest ABC^^^ Terry Gannon, David Norrie
3:30 PM ET Akron at Ohio
3:30 PM ET Marshall at Rice CCS Tom Hart, Trev Alberts
3:30 PM ET UTEP at Houston
3:30 PM ET Cal Poly at Wisconsin BTN Mark Neely, Glen Mason, Ashley Russell
3:30 PM ET North Texas at Middle Tennessee State
3:35 PM ET Iowa State at Kansas State FCS-Central Kevin Eschenfelder, Richard Baldinger
4:00 PM ET Louisiana Tech at New Mexico State MASN/ALT/GP Trey Bender, Jay Taylor
4:05 PM ET No. 9 Boise State at Nevada KTVB Mark Johnson, Tom Scott, David Augusto
4:05 PM ET Northern Colorado at Portland State
5:05 PM ET Sacramento State at Idaho State
5:30 PM ET Duke at Virginia Tech ESPNU Dave Armstrong, Larry Coker
6:00 PM ET No. 14 Brigham Young at No. 7 Utah The Mtn. Rich Cellini, Jon Berger, Blaine Fowler
6:00 PM ET Charleston Southern at Coastal Carolina
7:00 PM ET No. 20 Pittsburgh at No. 19 Cincinnati ESPN2 Mark Jones, Bob Davie
7:00 PM ET No. 21 Oregon State at Arizona Versus Ron Thulin, Kelly Stouffer, Lewis Johnson
7:00 PM ET East Carolina at UAB CSS/WITN Bob Neal, Chuck Oliver, Allison Williams
5:00 PM ET McNeese State at Central Arkansas FCS-Central Doug Anderson, LaDarrin McClane, Dave Knobler
7:00 PM ET Iowa at Minnesota BTN Wayne Larrivee, Chris Martin, Anthony Herron
7:00 PM ET Louisiana-Monroe at Florida International
7:00 PM ET South Dakota State at North Dakota State KVLY Scott Peters, Lee Timmerman, Kevin Feeney, Brian Shawn
7:00 PM ET Northwestern State at Stephen F. Austin
7:00 PM ET Louisiana-Lafayette at Troy
7:45 PM ET Florida State at No. 25 Maryland ESPN Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham, Jack Arute
8:00 PM ET No. 2 Texas Tech at No. 5 Oklahoma ABC Brent Musberger, Kirk Herbstreit, Lisa Salters
8:00 PM ET UNLV at San Diego State CCS Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor
9:00 PM ET UC Davis at San Diego
11:05 PM ET Idaho at Hawaii KCBI/O-PPV/GP Bob Akamian, Mike Lamb/Jim Leahey, Russell Yamanoha

Sunday, November 23
8:00 PM ET Connecticut at South Florida ESPN Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore

First off, some stats that jumped out at me:
* Kentucky had five players with 4 or more turnovers EACH. OUCH.
* UNC allowed the Wildcats to shoot 52.4% in the second half (to UNC's 38.2%)
* Rebounding: 39-37 KY
* Shots Attempted: KY 45, UNC 70!!! (see Turnovers KY 28, UNC 16)
* Ty Lawson 3-15, Bobby Frasor 1-4, Wayne 5-14 [v. Penn: Lawson 2-7, Bobby 1-5, Wayne 5-15]

* This game was very much like the Penn game -- the Heels jump all over the opponent then just lose focus (I read that Roy described it as "meandering").

* Second game, second instance of very poor offensive efficiency from Ty, Wayne and Bobby -- hopefully an early blip and not a trend; Ty's problem seems to stem in part from poor shot selection/failure to recognize the defensive situation on drives; Wayne and Bobby are just missing, though Wayne hit a few as things wore on last night.

* Wayne's defense remains ... ahem ... suspect, at best. He has backtracked, IMO, from the improvement he showed last season.

* Apparent broken wrist aside (and I have NOT seen anything officially confirming that), Zeller looked a lot more like a freshman last night against Kentucky's quality big men, especially on his weaker end -- defense. He did get one really terrific block, though, and showed hustle when he was beat. Still, he got pushed around and had some very poor defensive footwork in the post and looked late/lost on some rotations -- all to be expected for a freshman big man, mind you. I'm sick about the injury, though, the kid has so much promise.

* Ed Davis was more in his element in this game -- he has rare ability to get off the floor extremely quickly, so that he is at the peak of his second jump while other guys are still winding up, which enhances his rebounding skills b/c he can tip the ball and get back up to it quicker than anyone around him; he also has frantastic rebounding and shot-blocking instincts. Offensively, he is a lot farther behind. He is a VERY poor passer and doesn't have terrific hands, though they look soft enough that he can develop that skill.

* Larry Drew II looks like a freshman, but is overall pretty solid. The kid has great basketball IQ, I think, and made one particularly impressive instinctive play that got me thinking about Dante Calabria's over-the-back pass (sitting on his rear) to Jamison to beat UMd back in '96. But he is struggling to understand what kind of passes he can make against a D-I defense and is putting a lot of balls up for grabs in traffic and/or around his post-player's ankles. I just think right now he is thinking too much out there (typical) but he is already handling that better than some other PGs Carolina has developed. Tons of potential ... once he gets comfortable and is able to react rather than think, he should blossom.

* Defense was alternately stifling and pathetic -- symptom of the team playing only as long as they had to rather than all 40 minutes. Is that a missing Tyler issue?

* I thought UNC should have had at least 50 points at half time, but in the second half Kentucky played much, much better defensively. Yet it seemed like UNC was toying with them, expending the minimum effort necessary to coast on the lead, with little bursts if Kentucky seemed at all threatening. That has to be disheartening for Kentucky fans, to know their program is that far behind in talent, but it is not exactly encouraging for UNC fans -- this team still lacks the killer instinct.

Well, on to UCSB -- didn't part of their campus burn in the recent fires out there? Yikes. Anyway, this sort of stop in California on the way to Hawaii game is an historic trap game for UNC. I would like to see Tyler play a few minutes, at least, go get the rust off, but I suspect he is an all-or-none guy, tough to play just a few minutes. In Hawaii, I wouldn't mind him being held out against Chaminade and playing the next 2 games just so he doesn't have to play three nights in a row.

Ah, well, what a picky fan I am. My team is #1 and 2-0 after a nationally televised drubbing of the Kentucky Wildcats.
**************

A few notes on other games:
* Purdue looked awfully good against Miami OH last night -- just beat the crap out of them. That Dook game at Purdue is shaping up to be VERY interesting.

* Steph Curry had 44 against Oklahoma and he didn't actually play that great(!!) It took him about 44 shots to get those 44 points, not the ratio you want to see. This Davidson team is really suffering the loss of their PG and yet an "off" Curry had them in striking distance of beating #12 Oklahoma on its home court. Amazing. I'd say Curry is your early leader for POY -- and I think the media are eager to name some one other than Hansbrough the POY.

With Ted Steven's losing, Palin will have to wait 6 years for another shot at this seat or run against pub Senator Lisa Murkowski in the pub primary in 2 years. She became Governor by beating Murkowski's dad, in the pub primary for Governor.I think that Palin's political career peaked a couple of weeks ago.

Cheney Indicted!

Quote:Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies.

I was all prepared to go on positively, but that Zeller play has me pissed off. I'm leading off on a sour note.

McNoggin®: Whatever kenSucky player made that Bush League foul. I hope your manhood falls off from Syphllis you dyed-in-the-wool SOB.

Chicken®: Deon Thompson. Career high. That's the rule and there can't really be a question tonight.

Lynch Biscuit: Ty Lawson. Brought it tonight.

Biscuits: Davis, Ellington, Greene, Frasor and Zeller.

Opponent biscuit: Patrick Patterson, just for not going to dook.

[] you, kenSucky. Like dook and Notre Dame, you deserve everything bad that happens to you.