Monday, July 13, 2009

Pearls before Beers and Peers

Many news sites that I go to offer a break once in a while from the endless stream of news.

"Pearls before Swine" for a title? No way.

So, "Open Thread", got any Pearls to drop off?

What prompted this was Channel Surfing. Usually happens when an ad comes up during a show on TV, and tonight I caught a featured PAC-10 game of the past, ASU vs Nebraska ( my alma mater ), September 1996, halfway through the 3rd quarter. I remember watching it 13 years ago, Nebraska was shut out 19-0. NU had a pretty good defense, but the offense sucked majorly that night in Arizona, due in part to #42 for ASU. Some of you might know who that was by now.

Punt returner, tackled by #42, Pat Tillman. Fumble recovery ( at the end of the game, sealing the victory ) by Pat Tillman, #42.

Who could have known in 1996?

bb

7 comments:

  1. Well, since the theme starts with 1996, I had been laid off from my defense job, going back to school to get my biology degree.
    But still, in my heart of heats, I'm a historian.
    Still, the US Army had a recruiter on campus, and so did the CIA. The CIA guys were boring namely because a bunch of wannabe's were hanging out there trying to be...I don't know...cool?
    "I can speak French."
    "We're looking for someone who can speak non-romantic languages...can you speak Arabic?"
    Anyway, after listening to a couple of wannabes flashing their non-interesting creds to a very disinterested CIA recruiter I asked if they were looking for biologists...
    "Well, no, not at this time, but..."
    Me, I said, "oh, alright, see you later."
    To which he was trying to get me back to talk to me, but like I said, I wasn't really interested, just curious to see if Biology degrees had any value.
    So I go to the Army guys because at that time I really dug me them hummers. Oh yeah, gear envy in the worst way, and I likes me the shape and ruggedness of the hummer. And so the guys, hanging with their prop, yes, a Hummer, all decked out in cool Army camo, were holding court with other groupies.
    Me, I was just interested in sitting in the thing...but was amazed that for a touted "heavy armored" scout vehicle the door walls were quite thin.
    So me and the Army guy are chatting up a storm, and I says to him...
    "I'm surprised at the relative thinness of the "armoring" of the vehicle. For some reason I thought it would be...um...thicker?"

    "Oh yeah, armor has come a long way now. These things are tough as nails, and can take a whole lot of punishment."

    My hope is that he didn't trust the armoring too much on that vehicle because at the time it was 1996...and as I recall, not much was done to the armor design of the hummer between 1996 and 2003.

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  2. I saw Nebraska vs UCLA in 88 at the Rose Bowl. It was really weird to see all the Cornhusker fans in the stadium. At least half were in red shirts, jackets, sweaters or hats to honor Nebraska. I thought maybe they all travelled the 1500 odd miles from Lincoln to Pasadena, but was told that there was a significant percentage of Nebraskans that came west with the Okies in the thirties and that their descendants were there to root for NU.

    It was an Troy Aikman/Steve Taylor QB matchup. As I recall, UCLA beat Nebraska even though Steve Taylor outperformed Aikman. Great game!

    mike

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  3. OK, since Basil began with football, I'm going to stay with it. How about greatest comebacks one's actually seen, comebacks so improbable that they still gladden (or sadden) the heart years later?

    1974: USC-Notre Dame in the L.A. Coliseum. The first half is all Notre Dame, which built up a lead of 24-0 nearing halftime. Right at the end of the half, Anthony Davis catches a TD pass from Pat Haden to make the score 24-6 at the half (kick failed). Notre Dame kicks off for the third quarter. Davis returns the kick for a TD. Notre Dame 24, USC 13. Then the floodgates open. By the end of the third quarter, the score is USC 41, Notre Dame 24. USC adds two more TDs in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter and coasts home to a 55-24 victory. USC scores 55 points in 17 minutes, with Davis accounting for 36 of those points.

    1984: Maryland-Miami in the Orange Bowl. Miami, then a real powerhouse, moves out to a 31-0 halftime lead. Game over? Not according to Frank Reich, who'd been the starter, but even after he recovered, was relegated to the bench because his replacement, Stan Gelbaugh, was playing so well. All Reich did was lead the Terrapins to six second-half touchdowns and a 42-40 victory.

    1993: Buffalo-Houston in Buffalo for an AFC wildcard playoff game. Frank Reich is featured again, as a backup to the injured Hall of Famer Jim Kelley. Another Buffalo HOFer, Thurman Thomas, goes out early with an injury, leaving the Bills with a second-string backfield. It shows. Houston leads 28-3 at the half, and then scores another TD early in the third to make it 35-3. Then Reich, who's gotta be the king of comebacks, goes to work, getting the Bills to a point late in the game where they actually lead, 38-35. Houston gets a late FG and they go into overtime. Buffalo gets a turnover and kicks a FG, making the final score Buffalo 41, Houston 38.

    I will defer comment on Sheer's love of Humvees, other than to observe that it was never intended to be an armored vehicle. Think jeep. Boy, the military does have some doozies.

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  4. I should have said "at the Rose Bowl stadium" as the UCLA/Nebraska game I was quoting was a regular season game and not the New Years Day Bowl game.

    mike

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  5. Publius:

    Joe Buck????
    Joe Buck is on Fox? Last I saw He was on 24
    as a bad Guy about to be tortured by you know who.

    Hi! I'm Joe Buck from Texas. I ain't a fer real
    cowboy, but I sure am one hell of a stud.

    You want a comeback. Joe Montana in his senior year at Notre Dame against my former college University of Houston. Houston leads a gazillion to almost nothing. see here.

    "Montana did not disappoint as he led Notre Dame to win their final nine games, including a 38-10 Cotton Bowl win over the number one ranked Texas Longhorns. This win earned Notre Dame the NCAA national title. During his senior year in 1978, Montana led Notre Dame back to the Cotton Bowl, this time against the University of Houston. This game is considered to be one of the greatest of Montana’s career, as he led his team to yet another fourth quarter comeback to beat Houston by one point."

    Fasteddiez

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  6. Pictures to make your day better!

    :-)

    http://tinyurl.com/muvwxm

    bb

    ReplyDelete
  7. Let's try that again.

    http://tinyurl.com/mnvneo

    bb

    ReplyDelete