First Step

He's finally done it.  The day has come.  My son took an actual step today.  Note that it wasn't steps.  It's not walking.  He took one big step.  The other foot kind of followed and some excited parents would say that he did it and he's walking.  I'm not that optimistic.  He was holding my hand and he looked at my wife and I let go and he put one foot in front of the other and went towards her.  This might seem like some unbelievably exciting feat.  But in reality it's just a sign that he's ready to get into even more shit.  I call him a monkey cause he's crawling and squirming and gettin into every fuckin thing.  Some things he knows he's not supposed to do and some he knows are new and exciting.  But the year has now started off with him ready to show us that fast crawling and body contortion to get to places he wants to go is no longer necessary.  If he wants to go somewhere, soon he'll be walking there.

Utah handled Alabama nicely tonight and should garner some first place votes in the polls.  The Big Ten conference has embarrassed themselves.  The Big 12 conference has laid some eggs.  And the Pac-10 has looked damn good.  But for the Mountain West or the Big East to get some recognition they have to CONTINUALLY beat great teams.  They say that Boise State's bowl win over Oklahoma a couple years ago was a fluke.  What was this game?  Alabama was number one in the polls before their last game loss to Florida.  Utah is undefeated.  No one would take Utah on their non conference schedule now so how do they prove they're in the elite status?  They took the first stride tonight by givin it to Alabama.  I couldn't be happier as well because Nick Saban is a piece of shit.  He left LSU hangin, he left Miami hangin and I won't be surprised at all if he fucks Alabama just the same.  Some guys are in it for the money.  Some for the fame.  Some I can't tell what the hell they're in it for?

Another January 1st Bowl Victory

Last year people wanted to run Kirk Ferentz out of town and they rode him and rode him.  Well after the Hawkeyes absolutely dominating win over the Gamecocks of South Carolina, they might get their wish for him to leave.   All reports are indicating that his buddy is goin to get the GM job for the Cleveland Browns and Ferentz will leave to take the head coaching job.  Iowa has been in a January bowl 5 of the last 7 years.  Only 4 teams in all of the FBS have gone to more.  4 fuckin teams.  And Ferentz hasn't done it with a bunch of five star recruits.  He's done it with walk ons and 2nd and 3rd choices.  Today was an absolute drubbing of South Carolina after they turned the ball over on their first 4 possessions and the first possession of the second half.  The Hawks could have had a bigger blowout victory but they ran and ran and ran and I appreciated that.  The game against Minnesota was silly.  But South Carolina put up a meaningless touchdown and then for some lame reason kicked a field goal with 4 minutes left to make it 31-10.  The over under was 42 so it didn't even make sense for that?  But throughout the game the announcers were fixated on Steve Spurrier, the QBs suckin and their lack of playmaking.  They didn't focus on Iowa at all.  When they finally did spend a good amount of time on them, Mitch King had had himself a good day, Greene rushed for three scores and they spent all them time talking about Ferentz leaving.  They praised him and then said if he wanted to 'prove himself' he should go to the pros.  The pro game is a different game.  It's managing men and not college kids.  It's not anything shameful to be a great college coach and not want the bs of the pros.   I hope Kirk stays for 20 more years.  He is Iowa Football and it would be horrible to see him go.

My son pulled a usual trick on me this morning.  We don't let him watch TV because of all the ill effects it causes kids under 2.  We don't judge what other people do but for him there's got to be something better than watching the idiot box.  So I put him down for an early nap at 8:15.  He slept right up until kickoff at 10am.  It was just about perfect timing.  So we didn't watch the game (except for the 4th quarter when the game was in hand and he was back down for a nap) but in typical fashion he napped right through the boring TV and woke up when quality program commenced.  Well done little man.

Out With 2008

To finish 2008, my son and I went on an adventure to my cousin's house.  It was a pretty fun day and his two kids attempted to teach my kid how to cry, steal toys, have fun, share, read stories and moan.  Some real fun lessons for the little man.  I know my guy gets to play with a bunch of kids at day care but it's always interesting to see him interacting with kids that are older.  We saw a bit of it in Iowa with his cousin's a bit at my family gathering but there is so many other things going on that the kids are caught up in a million things.  Today the boys were able to play together or apart and it was uninterrupted by a big family dinner or a shit load of presents.  In the end, they spent some time together and a good portion apart.  All the toys they have my son is absolutely enthralled in because he's never seen them.  And a four and two year old don't want to play with the same things as a one year old so it was interesting to see them playing so much on their own.  

Speaking of toys, my son's first birthday party is set and a whopping 30+ people will be in attendance and they will all only be immediate family and a few aunts and uncles.   We're not even having friends or all of our cousins and it's a total fuckin clownshow.  In my kid's room are about 4 or 5 presents he hasn't even opened yet from Christmas and he's about to be inundated with 15-20 more gifts.  How our house is goin to handle 30+ people for one afternoon is interesting.  Where we're goin to put another 20 fuckin toys permanently is a mystery to me.   

Tonight my wife and I won't be doing the big blowout for New Year's.  Maybe that's obvious by this post's timestamp.  I think New Year's is a big letdown.  I've done the big dinner, private parties and all-you-can-drinks at the bars.  All of them haven't lived up to what they're supposed to.  It's rookie night.  Everyone who never goes out is out.  All those people that drink 2 beers a month are drinking 8 beers in one night.  The cabs are full.  There are pukers everywhere and it's a mess.  I have had fun at some house parties but those years are few and far between.  Even when I was 19 and drinking was the be all end all I though New Years was a joke.  Maybe I should give a rundown on the holidays as I see them: Christmas is for people that believe in Jesus and love materialistic shit;Thanksgiving is in honor of a bunch of people going somewhere, stealing, raping, pillaging and killing off a society and then saying we should be thankful for what we have;Valentine's day is a day for Hallmark to make some money;Sweetest Day is just shite;and the list goes on.  But I'd say a lot of people on New Years treat the holiday the right way.  Many people want to make changes.  Many people want to turn to a new chapter in their lives.  It's funny they start this new chapter by gettin so bombed that they throwup but who am I to say that's the wrong way to "out with the old, in with the new".

Hawkeye basketball lost to a ranked Buckeye team.  Tomorrow is finally the big game.  I'd say Shonn Greene is the key for the Hawkeyes offense and the freshman quarterback is the key to the Hawkeye defense.  If they can rattle the Gamecocks QB early and possibly get a 7 or 10 point lead then things might shape up well for them.  South Carolina has the 90some ranked offense in the FBS and the Hawks have the 14th best defense.  Stanzi might not be able to throw for a bunch of yards but I hope he can manage the team well and let Greene run wild.  The easiest line on the game is O/U 1.5 TDs for Shonn Green.  He should get 2 so I'm takin the over.  I just can't see the Gamecocks defense keepin him out of the endzone.  I hope Shonn runs for 100 yards so he has 100 in every game and off to the pros with him.  A new running back will emerge for the Hawkeyes in 2009.  Shonn Greene wasn't even on the depth chart in spring practice.  So there's no telling who's coming next.