Clancy bustin' a move at his Xmas program

The title says it all. Fear not grandparents, I will post the a version with the boy actually singing later this week.

Clancy (5yrs) reads his first book

Clancy read his first book to us last night. It was really exciting to see how much he has learned in Kindergarten in just a short time. I think we made him read it three times last night, once for mommy, once for daddy and once for the camera.

A Padawan no more

During our trip to Disneyland, Clancy was selected to participate in the Jedi Academy show. I'm pretty sure this was the highlight of the visit for him. He takes after his dad in his love of Star Wars movies and I will never forget him running up to me after he was done and giving me a big extra-long hug. I'm pretty sure that was his way of expressing to me that only I understand how cool this all was for him.

Clancy's First Basketball Game (and basket)

Here is a clip from Clancy's first-ever basketball game. Practice last Tuesday was the first time he had actually even shot or dribbled a basktball.

I managed to catch his first basket on video, although I didnt get as good of a shot as I would have liked since I was trying to coach him from the bench as you can probably hear. I'm the one shouting "dribble Clancy!"

Oh, and much to my dismay, Clancy's team is called the Wildcats. I guess Sun Devils hasn't quite caught on as a popular youth team name yet.

Prayers for Rags

When Tricia and I lived in Maryland in the late 90s, we were both new to the area. Typically when you move somewhere and don't know many people, your first friends there tend to be people that you work closely with, assuming you can stand to be around them. This was the case with Tricia's job at the University of Maryland sports information office. One of the people we became friends with was a guy named Mark Ragonese, aka "Rags." Rags was one of the most stand-up, genuine people I've ever had the opportunity to meet and get to know.

Yesterday we found out that Rags was in a horrible accident this past weekend. Below is the information regarding the accident and Rag's condition. If anyone sees this post, please keep Rags in your prayers. He has a long road ahead of him, but we're extremely thankful he is still with us and because of who he is, we are confident that he can overcome the obstacles that lay ahead of him. Also, you can visit here to see how Rags is progressing or make a donation.

From Mark's wife Erika:

The accident happend while Mark was setting up for a running race on Sunday, June 8th (Ironically, the race was the Survivor 7 Mile Run, an event created to raise awareness and funds to assist survivors of catastrophic injuries get back to an active lifestyle.)

Mark was on a box truck unloading 8 ft wooden tables-- something he has done approximately 20 weekends a year for the past 10 years. The three-person crew was working together, two on the ground placing tables in their proper location and Mark on the truck handing them down. The two helpers had just taken their load of tables when the 8-10 tables fell on top of Mark. Although no one actually saw the tables fall, it is thought that he was knocked to the ground by the following tables and hit his head in such a way that caused the injury.

Emergency services were called immediately and an ambulance was on the scene within 15 minutes. Mark was taken directly to University of Maryland Shock Trauma, the best hospital in the WORLD (literally) for his type of injury.

Mark broke several vertebrae in his neck and injured his spinal cord. Doctors have performed two surgeries to "fuse" the bones in his neck together so that the spine will have a clear pathway that will cause no further damage to the spine and aid in its recovery.

Since the accident, Mark has had no feeling in his legs or arms. He is alert and aware and lights up when his friends and family come to visit. He is still sedated and has a ventilation tube in this throat to assist him in breathing while they performed the surgeries and he recovers from the initial trauma. Because of the tube, he is unable to talk out-loud but can converse through whispers, lip-reading, and facial expressions. Once he has regained the strength to fill his lungs to capacity on his own, they will remove the tube.

It is too early to tell the eventual outcome of the injuries. Everyone knows the importance and sensitivity of the spinal cord. Regardless, Mark will have a long road ahead of him. He will begin Rehabilitation almost immediately and a lot will be learned in the coming days and weeks.

Those of you who know Mark know his strong will and dedication and his undying love for his family and friends. It is this strength and desire that we hope and pray will drive Mark through recovery.

Astros Stink so it's Lego Indiana Jones Time

The Astros had another stellar offensive outing tonight so it was time to sit down with Clancy and play the new Lego Indiana Jones game on the Wii. We played a couple of levels tonight and I'm officially hooked. We still play the Lego Star Wars game regularly but I have a feeling that one will take a backseat for a few weeks. They need to keep cranking out more of these Lego-themed games. Apparently there is a Lego Batman one due out in the Fall. Btw, I did enjoy the new movie despite what others are saying. The ending is a be hokey but otherwise it was an entertaining moving and it was fun to be able to take the kiddos to see it as well.


I really don't know what to say about the Astros other than the run they had in early May was great to watch and fun while it lasted. Sad thing is that the pitching hasn't been horrible and has kept them in games which is rather unexpected. I have to think at some point the bats will wake up. But hey, it's early June and the team is above .500. If someone told me before the season started that they would be above .500 at this point, I would have been shocked.

While I'm bouncing around on this post, a belated congratulations to the Sun Devil softball squad and their impressive run to the national championship. Hopefully the Sun Devil baseball team can keep it going against Fresno State this weekend.

Buzzsaw, thy name is Berkman

I pity any pitcher in the National League right now who has to face Lance Berkman. To say the guy is on fire is an insult to him. I am completely in awe of what the Big Puma has been doing with the bat of late. It's like he's trying to make up for his sub-par performance last season in a two week period this season. The Astros web site has a nice story on the stats he has been rolling up of late including 19 hits in his last 25 ABs. That is just sick. Since Cecil Cooper wised up and put Berkman into the fourth spot in the batting order on April 19, Berkman has 9 HRs and 24 RBI. He was batting .295 coming into that game and is now batting .382.

Oh, and since April 19 when Coop tweaked his line-up, the Astros are 13-6. Ironically enough, the Astros lost that day but thankfully Coop stuck with it.

A look at the players that Ed Wade cut loose from the Astros in the off-season:

• Luke Scott - 1HR, 10 RBI, .267, 27Ks
• Matt Albers - 2-1, 2.39 ERA, 13Ks in 26.1 innings
• Dennis Sarfate - 2-1, 4.02 ERA, 17Ks in 15.2 innings
• Adam Everett - 0 HR, 2 RBI, .196
  
• Mike Lamb - 0 HR, 13 RBI, .235
• Chris Burke, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .137
• Chad Qualls, 0-4, 2.75 ERA, 20Ks in 19.2 innings, 1 SV (has been charged with three losses in last four games)
• Trever Miller, 0-0, 5.23 ERA, 10Ks in 10.1 innings

Right now, the only one or two guys I'd say the Astros miss are probably Matt Albers and Chad Qualls as both of those guys could help shore up our sometimes shaky bullpen.

Not Sure Where She Got Those Genes From

Today Chandler Bess did her first Triathlon and finished THIRD in her age group and finished in the Top 50 overall among kids up to age 10 (she's 8.) Given that her mother and I have never 3done a triathlon, nor have we ever had a desire to do one, we're scratching our heads as to where she gets these athletic genes she will sometimes display. She did great considering right as she was lining up to get in the pool, I had to remind her this was a race (which she didn't know) and that she could pass up other swimmers in her lane.

Here are some pictures from the morning's event.

Trying hard here to contain her excitement

Trying Hard Not to be one of THOSE Parents

Last night, Clancy had a t-ball game out at the Leander-Cedar Park complex. Because this was a make-up game from Saturday's rain-out, they played on the field where Chandler normally plays her softball games. We were sitting in the bleachers next to our friends Gary and Krista and made the comment to them about how the fans aren't quite as intense at this field during t-ball as they are during the coach pitch games that Chandler plays in. After we got home from the game, I thought back to that comment and felt a bit convicted about how I might be contributing to some of that intensity that occurs during those games.

I look back at the tournament Chandler's team (the Red Raiders) played in out at Oak Hill last weekend and something that happened at the end of the first game. The Red Raiders went into the bottom of the inning tied with one out and a runner on third. The batter hit the ball off of her foot but it still rolled out far enough out in front of homeplate to give the runner on third time to score the winning run. The ball should have been called a foul ball since it hit her foot. As the runner was crossing the plate, I was standing by the first base side and yelled (quite loudly) towards the umpire "that was a foul ball, it hit her foot." You should have seen the look the first base coach from the opposing team shot me. Not that it mattered what I said, the ump wasn't going to change his call.

This is where I get a bit dumber, as I was helping Chandler gather up her equipment, I proceeded to tell her how her team got "homered" by the local Oak Hill umpire ... not once, but a few times. Never once did I tell her, "you guys played really hard, it was a tough loss, but if you keep playing hard, you will win some of those close games." The last thing I want to do is instill a mentality in her that it's someone else's fault everytime her team loses a game. I guess the good thing is that Chandler typically ignores about 99 percent of what I say.

The bottom line is that youth sports, 7/8 year old girls softball or any other, is increasingly becoming more of a parent showcase rather than a venue for the kids to have fun. I've got to do a better job making sure I'm not evolving into one of THOSE parents.

A Tale of Two Cities

Interesting night for me as a fan. I have lived most of my life in two cities - Phoenix and Houston. I grew up an Astros fan and while I lived in Phoenix, there was no pro baseball team so my passion for Astros baseball continued to grow after I moved there, along with the associated misery (see 1986 NLCS) that goes with rooting for the Astros. When I moved to Phoenix, I was not much of an NBA fan but slowly became a Suns fan thanks to Walter Davis, Kevin Johnson, Tom Chambers and Sir Charles.

So tonight I spent the evening catching up on email and writing press releases while watching the Suns implode in the final two minutes against Spurs to lose in game 5 of their FIRST ROUND series, ending the Phoenix season. Then I flipped over to the Astros game and watched them close out a 6-4 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The irony for me personally continues to be that the one Houston sports team (yes, I was a die-hard Oilers fan) I was not much of a fan of, the Houston Rockets, were the ones who eliminated the Suns two years in a row in the mid-90s. Those Rocket teams would go onto win back-t0-back championships.

Anyhow, a rough night for Phoenix sports fans who root for the home teams. While in Houston, their basketball team gets to live another day after silencing the Jazz and the Astros snapped their three-game skid. A rare good day for Houston sports fans. Basketball season is officially over for me now. Houston, you have my full attention once again.

Awful Day for my Teams

As a sports fan, Saturday was about as bad as it gets for me. First, the Suns lose in double OT after having led for pretty much the entire time in regulation against the Spurs. Given that I live in Austin, I'm up here in psuedo-Spurs country since San Antonio is 90 minutes away and so I'm forced to deal with Spurs media and fans.

It only gets worse from there, I couldn't even finish watching the Astros' game last night as they have just become a very pathetic display out on the field. They lose 3-2 after getting shelled the previous night 11-5 by a worn-out Rockies team that had played 22 innings the night before. All of this on the Astros' homefield.

All of this was capped off by the ASU baseball team continuing their downward spiral and getting shelled by Oregon State yet again, 12-3. ASU is ranked 3rd in the country right now but after getting beat twice at home, there's a high likelihood they will fall out of the top 10.

Oh well, at least the ASU football team was able to beat themselves in the Maroon and Gold game. Note to Dennis Erickson, please consider an open competition for the starting QB spot going into training camp.

What a shame

Shawn Chacon unexpectedly pitches 8 very strong shutout innings and exits the game with a three run lead. Chacon has definitely been a pleasant surprise for the team as he has had three very solid outings in three starts this season. And as much as Chacon has been a pleasant surprise, Astros' closer Jose Valverde has been an alarming train wreck of a closer.

I don't question Cooper for bringing in Valverde to close the game out, nearly every manager in the league would have done the same thing. However, after blowing the lead by giving up four in the ninth against the Phillies, the question now becomes is how long does Coop continue to have Valverde be his closer?

Over the gut-wrenching past two seasons of Lidge closing out games, the Astros always had some decent options in Qualls and Wheeler. This year they really have no one who can step into that role. The only guy I can potentially see doing it is Brocail who has been a career middle-relief guy.

Not that they're asking me, but I'm going to offer up my suggestion on this one anyhow: move Valverde into a set-up role, ship the disappointing Oscar Villareal to Round Rock and call up Fernando Nieve and have him try closing. The guy has great stuff (when healthy) and he seems like the type of guy who is more suited toward letting it fly for an inning or two rather than trying to stretch it for 5 or 6.

Someone took their Deca Durabolin tonight

The Astros' biggest off-season acquisition and accused steroid user Miguel Tejada made a big impression on the locals in Houston tonight after he went yard to the opposite field for a walk-off two-run shot in the ninth to beat the rival Cardinals, 5-3. This came on the heels of Miggy making a great play to mercifully end a forgetful top of the ninth for new Astros' closer Jose Valverde (btw, Brad Lidge notched his first save for the Phillies today) who continues to be a win scavenger. No Astros' starter has a win yet, but all of them with the exception Oswalt should have one if not for the 2008 version of the Texaco bullpen.

The Astros are 3-5 now and if the bullpen were pitching well, they'd probably be 5-3 or at least .500 and Wandy and Backe would have a win each. I guess all those things D-backs' fans told me about Valverde are true and his 46 saves in 2007 were a bit of a mirage if you look behind the numbers.

Feels like 2000 again

I know spring training is a horrible indicator of how a team will perform in the regular season but I just don't have a good vibe at all about the Astros this season. For the past 10 or so seasons I have had some optimism going into the regular season that they were capable of contending. Not this season. Usually I'm fired up about the opening game and getting to watch them in action for the first time. Again, not this season. That being said, I will still of course watch them nearly every chance I get. I may be down on them right now, but I will still cheer hard.

I could see this season being a lot like the 2000 season where we were consistently all hit and no pitch. 2000 was the season where our supposed ace Jose Lima got freaked out by the short fences in the newly opened Enron Field and suddenly found himself in Detroit by mid-season. The only difference between now and then is that everyone still thought we had a chance to contend after winning the division in 1999 for the third straight season. This season you'd be hard-pressed to find a publication that has the Astros picked higher than fourth place.

I heard Lima is still pitching somewhere in the Mexican pro leagues. Maybe he's ready to redeem himself. The Astros are so desperate for pitching, you never know...

Chandler and Clancy's first ABs in 2008

Video highlights of Chandler and Clancy's at-bats from their first couple of games in 2008.

A busy Easter Weekend

After flying back from London on Friday and basically not sleeping for about 22 hours (I can't sleep on planes to save my life) thanks to delays as we connected in Chicago. A word of advice to anyone ever traveling internationally and you have to connect through Chicago, avoid checking your bags at all costs. It took a freaking hour and a half for me to get through customs, pick up my bag and then re-check it. I've done this going through Dallas before and it was a much smoother experience. Anyhow, I managed to get about five hours of sleep in on Friday night before getting up for 8 a.m. t-ball early Saturday morning.

Clancy's Red Sox scored their first win of the season thanks to his buddy Graylan who made 3 unassisted outs at second base in one inning. The key to winning in LCP 5 and 6 year old league is to have at least one inning where you get 3 outs. If you can do this and the other team cannot, you're golden.

After that it was swim team for Chandler, a quick lunch at Texadelphia then back at the ballpark for Chandler's game at 1. Chandler's Red Raiders picked up their first win of the season and are now 1-2. We're quickly realizing how stacked and well-coached Chandler's fall team was. However, the 11-10 win over the Cougars was huge and the team seems to be getting better each game. I will have some video highlights of their first games in another post.

After a futile attempt to nap after the game, it was soon time to eat, play some lego Star Wars with the boy and then dye some Easter eggs.

After a morning Easter egg hunt in the backyard on Sunday, it was time for church. At the last minute we decided to shake things up a bit and go to lunch first and hopefully avoid the C&E enhanced church crowds by going to the 12:30 service. Good thing we still ended up getting there about 30 minutes early because the place filled up quickly. I'll spare you any rants I have on C's and E's because at the end of the day, it's all about spreading the gospel, no matter how many times a year people come to church.

Below is a picture I took on my one morning of downtime in Europe last week when I wasn't in a conference room. It's from the Cathedral de Barcelona, He is risen!

Now it's off to go mow the lawn. Happy Easter everyone.

Pics from Europe trip - Day 1

Greetings from Barcelona. I left Austin on Sunday at around 3:30 central and after stops in DFW and London Gatwick, I arrived in Barcelona around 12:20 p.m. local time. Here are some pics which are basically from my hotel. Hope to have more up of some of the local architecture tomorrow if work schedule permits.

This is the view from one side of the hotel of the city

This is the view of the Meditterranean Sea from my hotel room

Kaz and Kevin's common bond

One of the newest Astros, second baseman Kaz Matsui will miss two weeks this spring as he undergoes a surgical procedure you can read about here.

As I was reading that story, I couldn't stop thinking about the episode from the first season of The Office (American version) entitled "Health Care," where Dwight was tasked with selecting the office's new health benefits plan. When reviewing a list of ailments that were to be covered under the new plan, Kevin the accountant confirmed that Kaz's condition is a truly a real one.

Dwight: Who wrote this, this hysterical one? Anal fissures.

Kevin: That's a real thing

Dwight: Yeah, but no one here has it

Kevin: (under his breath) Someone has it

Yes Kevin, someone surely does have it. Between this, a pending indictment for our new shortstop and the brilliant pitching we've had thus far in the spring, it's shaping up to be quite a battle for fourth place between us and the Reds.

Devils bubble about to burst?

The week leading up to the NCAA tourney selection is always an interesting one. So much speculation about who is in, debates about conferences, strength of schedules and of course the much scrutinized RPI.

I've been getting angry this week listening to some of the talking heads on ESPN and other outlets who are saying the Devils wont be dancing and that Tucson might be because of their high RPI and strength of schedule. Additionally, San Diego's win over a very overrated Gonzaga team in the WCC tourney, gives them an automatic bid which means three WCC teams are likely in, thus further hurting the Pac-10's chances for six or seven teams.

Where am I going with this? Basically if Tucson gets in and ASU doesn't, the NCAA is sending a message - schedule the best teams you can, lose to them, beat no one currently ranked in the RPI top 25 (non-conference) and finish below .500 in your conference and you're in.

Play a questionable non-conference schedule but beat the one top 10 opponent you played and finish at .500 in the second-best conference in the nation ... and sweep your fellow bubble team, you're out.

Yeah, that seems logical to me.

Devils SHOULD be dancing; Astros pitchers are happy

The Sun Devils hoops squad closed out the 2007-08 regular season tonight in Corvallis, OR against the Oregon State Beavers with a 77-64 victory. Congrats Beavers on being the first team to go 0-18 in Pac-10 history. I'm sure A.C. Green, Gary Payton and all of your alums are beaming with pride over your season. That will teach you to hire one of Lute's assistants as your head coach. Ok, I'll stop kicking now Beaver fans.

Back to the Devils. Frankly, last year's Devils looked pretty similar to this year's Beaver squad and only a couple of late-season wins kept the Devils out of the conference history books. The Devils made such an impression on everyone last season that the pundits really went out on a limb and picked the Devils to finish 9th in the conference before the season started. Well I hope those same pundits go ahead and eat their proverbial crow by casting their vote for Herb Sendek as Pac-10 2008 Coach of the Year.

All indications say that the Devils should get into the NCAA Tournament. The Devils finished 9-9 in what many have labeled as the best conference in the nation. That ties them for 5th place with Oregon and puts them ahead of the 8-10 University of Tucson who will likely need to win the Pac-10 tourney outright to get into the NCAAs. Enjoy your first NIT appearance since the 1980s kitty fans.

On to the Astros. Really the only thing I have been able to observe this spring is that their pitchers seemed to be "happy" about getting shelled. Twice in the last week, I have seen stories by the Houston Chronicle's kiss-up beat reporters that characterize Astros' pitchers as being "pleased" or "happy" with their lackluster outings. Here are a couple of examples of what I'm referring to:

"Although he would have liked better results, Woody Williams was pleased with the way he felt after giving up five runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts over 2 2/3 innings today against the Cleveland Indians."

"Overall today was what I was looking for," Chacon said. He apparently was "looking" to give up two runs in three innings.

Really glad to see these guys setting the bar so high and having tremendous confidence that our offense can put up a 10-spot or more every game.

Speaking of the offense, Miggy Tejada is batting .200 with one RBI this spring. Nice. I guess that potential indictment isn't weighing heavily on him at all.

Stinky Ride

I just spent an hour in this cab coming from JFK airport into the city and if the combination of smoke and body odor really bother you, then stay away from cab number 7E88. I've been in stinky cabs before, but this one is by far the worst I've ever been in. I felt sick the entire time.

It seems like in most places in the U.S., people cannot smoke in their offices, why should cab drivers be any different?

Yes, I am one of those people who whine about the smell of smoke and not ashamed to admit it. I'm the guy who always supports those no smoking laws and will continue to do so. And while I'm glad that NYC is a smoke-free city as far as restaurants and other indoor public places go, the one thing I never look forward to in this city is walking the streets having to walk past all those smokers who can't smoke indoors. Yeah I know I can't have it both ways.

Clancy's 5th Birthday Video

I'm about three weeks overdue in posting this. It's video highlights from Clancy's 5th birthday party at Crenshaw Gym.

Somewhere in Middle America

Work took me to Omaha, Nebraska for the first time in my life this week. Unfortunately I can't seem to shake that Counting Crows song, "Omaha" from continuously running thru my head. However, that is pretty much the most positive thing I can say about my trip to Omaha. That and the guy I saw in the airport with probably the coolest mullet I have ever seen. Truly business in the front and party in the back. Really wishing at that moment I had a camera phone.

I still don't get why the College World Series is played there every year but the people who attend it always seem to have a great time. It's the flattest place I've ever been, it's cold and windy and there are hardly any Starbucks there. Luckily it was a quick trip.

Not nearly as much fun as the trip Tricia and I took last week to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Most couples probably would have gone to some tropical location but not us, we're just not warm weather beach types. We took off to the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington ... in February. The weather was a bit chilly and rainy at times, but frankly it didn't bother us at all, we were just enjoying the scenery and hanging out sans kids.

This is right outside the Friday Harbor House where we stayed. Highly recommend it if you're ever in Friday Harbor. Good romantic getaway type spot, wouldn't necessarily call it kid friendly however. Below is the hotel and a couple of shots of the town from vantage point of the Ferry we came in on.

Devils Split in Bay Area

It's never a good situation when your big man gets his fourth foul with 17:25 to play in the game. It's even worse when you're going up against a front line that has twin seven footers. Devils's center Jeff Pendergraph had to sit when he was called for a VERY questionable offensive foul early in the second half and from that point forward it was all Stanford.

The lack of an aggressive big man in the middle made it very difficult for James Harden to penetrate the lane and do what he's been doing over the last 10 games -- scoring at will. Stanford was able to collapse on Harden every time and rendered him ineffective offensively in the second half. On the other end of the court, ASU had no answer for Brooke Lopez who scored easily on Eric Boateng every time he was fed the ball in the post. I'm starting to see why Duke wasn't too broken up over Boateng transferring after his freshman season.

While the loss to Stanford was disappointing, a split in the Bay area speaks to the progress the Devils are making in hoops. Their biggest challenge right now is depth and as the season wears on, that will probably be their glaring weakness. Which begs the question, what happened to Christian Polk? The guy was the closest thing we had to a consistent outside threat last season and now he doesn't even see the court. He must have ticked Sendek off pretty bad.

Kevin O'Neill Can't Burst My Bubble

"He (James Harden) did a great job,'' Arizona interim head coach Kevin O'Neill said. "He initiates contact. The guy is going to be a high draft pick, if I were to guess. I thought our guys did a decent job on him a couple of times.''

Plant all the thoughts in Harden's head that you want O'Neill, but it still doesn't change the fact that we finally beat U of Tucson for the first time in 12 tries. This was a big monkey to get off the team's back and will hopefully go a long way in building some momentum for a program that has long underachieved.

I still see the Devils as a .500 team in conference when all is said and done this season, but who knows, maybe Harden is one of those special players this program has been waiting on for a long time that can carry the team to some unexpected heights.

Devil hoops hitting their stride

I was able to watch the Devils play Oregon State today on FSN. Great game if you're a Sun Devils' fan. It has been a while since a Sun Devil hoops team was this much fun to watch. You probably have to go back to the early Frieder days with Jamal Faulkner, Stevin Smith, Lynn Collins and Mario Bennett for a Devils team that was competitive and fun to watch.


The Devils definitely play some solid interior defense thanks to the zone but if a team gets hot from the outside, it can be exploited. However, going into the season, everyone knew the Devils would play solid D. It was the offense that was a question. James Harden living up to the hype has helped address any concerns about the offense. He makes everyone around him better.

Wednesday night's game against Tucson should be interesting. I'm sure they will be a little ticked off coming into the game after losing to Oregon, a team ASU beat last Thursday. Either way, the rivalry should at least be a bit more competitive than it has been in the past. Also, the proof is there that the program is progressing - the win over Xavier and quick conference start represent a huge improvement over last season.

Unrelated note - nice going Erickson in nabbing Gerrell Robinson away from the Irish. Looks like we're on our way to having a Top 25 recruiting class.

Kirk Herbstreit hates ASU and the Pac-10

Well, maybe "hate" is a bit extreme, but if anyone watched ESPN's Holiday Bowl broadcast, it's hard not to walk away thinking that Herbstreit, one of ESPN's top college football analysts, has some bias against the Pac-10 and ASU.

I've had a week now to get over the thrashing the Longhorns put on the Devils. Unfortunately, this loss has some long-term ramifications for me personally. Living in the Austin area and working with several Longhorn alums, it will be a while before I can talk trash against the Longhorns. I will continue to proudly wear the maroon and gold but do so knowing that every time I do, some random Longhorn fan will be quick to remind me of their pinnacle moment from what was ultimately an underachieving 2007 Texas football season for them.

Before ranting further on the broadcast of the game, here are some of my other random observations:

• How does an offensive line with the experience that ASU's had (three grad students starting) have such awful pass protection. I have always heard from people who know much more about football than I do that talent is a critical piece, chemistry on the offensive line is equally important. This line has played together for a few years now so it would seem chemistry should not be an issue. That means there was either a lack of talent/depth on the O-line or....
• Horrible O-line schemes and coaching. The Washington State game in early October was really the first game I can remember where our pass protection weaknesses were exploited and continued to get worse throughout the remainder of the season. Why didn't the coaching staff ever adjust? Would it kill them to use an H-back or plug one of our linebackers in at fullback to block?
• I really hope Erickson makes the QB competition wide-open come spring practice. Rudy should assume nothing, hopefully he will mature a bit more during the off-season. Danny Sullivan showed some poise in his few series but keep in mind the game was pretty much over by that point, but he did at least make it somewhat interesting, cutting the score to 10 with a few minutes left.
• If Kyle Williams can play well more consistently than he did this season, the Devils should have one of the top two receiving corps in the Pac-10. Seemed like the WRs were bailing Rudy out time and time again. A stark contrast from last season. This group of receivers definitely matured a lot over last season.
  

Now about the broadcast. I was really fired up going into this season that ESPN was going to start broadcasting Pac-10 games and we wouldn't have to continually endure the high school quality broadcasts on FSN. Unfortunately after having to listen to Herbstreit and his ongoing bias toward the Big 10, consistently picking against ASU and then his apparent lies about Rudy Carpenter's trash talking during the Holiday Bowl broadcast, I was actually missing Petros Papadakis.

Note to ESPN, just because Bob Davie's kid is a walk-on at ASU, it doesn't mean you have to make the guy your second string sideline reporter since he happens to be at the game.