Peach Bowl Report

(Photo Source: Shreveport Times; John Amis/AP)

Tigers won big. Unfortunately, the boys from both teams got a little rowdy afterwards. Hopefully no players were hurt.

We had a good time. I made Creamy Taco and we got to use some cute football-shaped party trays Cuz found at Target. We got to torment our friends who have hated on Les Miles and Matt Flynn all year. I think by the end of the night we had nominated Matt Flynn for sainthood and succession to the US Presidency and Vatican Popeship. (Is Popeship a word?)



Links I Surfed Today

Football’s a Lot Like Your Christian Life

Everything You Need to Know about Dr. Phil

How to Write a Novel in 100 Days or Less

Why Little Girls Like to Torture Barbie - Turns out a study was released this week showing girls like to mutilate Barbie dolls. Hmm... let's think. Barbie has a surgically enhanced, physiologically impossible perfect body, a dream house in Malibu, and that Ken guy throwing himself at her. Animosity toward Barbie? It's a mystery.

Peach Bowl and Rose Bowl

Peach Bowl!
Tonight’s the night. LSU will defeat… I mean take on the Miami Hurricanes in the Peach Bowl. I’ll leave the details to The Benchwarmer(s), but I’m convinced new quarterback Matt Flynn is up to the job. I’m not savvy enough on the stats to make a score prediction. Bottom line: I got a lot of LSU clothes for Christmas, and this is our last game day for a while to dress up, cook out, and make a night of it. It’ll be fun. We haven't settled on the menu, but I've found my lucky LSU shirt!

One for the Roses
The bowl-mania surrounding the holiday's is like lagniappe, or icing on the top. If you really get into it, the whole bowl thing can get quite interesting. This year’s Rose Bowl is going to be exciting. I’m completely one hundred percent positive that Texas can handily put away USC. And because of a bitter little LSU-USC thing, I’m definitely rooting for Texas. Let’s all remember people, LSU won the 2003 national championship! USC is only seeking its second consecutive title. Shame on irresponsible journalists for forgetting that little detail!

Personally I’ve always hoped for some rich people to get together and sponsor a match game between the two teams to make up for the noise USC made after our much deserved national championship a couple of years ago. But in lieu of that, we Tiger fans can live vicariously through Texas. Hook ‘em horns!

Holiday Travels

I'm Baaaack
Thanks to the good Lord and the ingenuity of Chevrolet automotives, I am back safe and sound from visiting my brother and sister-in-law in sunny Florida for Christmas.

Apologies
Unfortunately as you can (could) see, I was unable to post while away. Thank you for patiently waiting, dear readers, and I hope the new rested and revived Lee Ann will more than make up for my belated posting.

On the Road Again
After unfolding out of the Trailblazer with a permanent "crick" in my neck and knees, the first posting tidbits that come to mind are notes from the road.

• Traveling brings a long string of ethical dilemmas. Chiefly this: Is one obligated to buy something at a fast food restaurant if you stop to use the restroom?
  


• When we were kids, the answer each of the 4,912 times we asked the "how much longer?" question was always "ten more minutes." Some things never change. But I'm filing this away for future use myself.
  


• It's funny how I drive all the way back to Baton Rouge in the middle of the night Christmas Eve to get my laptop power cord because I'm going to do sooooo much work on the trip, only to never even power on the machine.
  


• It is entirely possible to find travelers from 32 separate states on I-12 from FL to LA. I know because we played the license plate game. Wow.
  


• Sleeping in the car should not count. The deal is that my family ranks early-rising right up there with that "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" thing. So one is somehow a more ethical being if they can wake up at 5:30 a.m. on your vacation and find something industrious to do with your hands. But I've discovered that I can sleep six hours in the car and still sleep eleven hours that night. I suppose I've traded my moral standing for sleeping till 9.
  


• Men are funny when it comes to traveling. We never get to see my brother, so there's no limit to the meaningful and memorable stamements he could've greeted us with. Instead, he turns to my Dad first question and utters the profound male-to-male traveling greeting: "Did you make good time?" to which my Dad happily recounts every minor detail of the trip, complete with down-to-the-minute departure and arrival times and each of the exits we visited.
  


• About exits... men are very picky about the exit process. I'm still not sure I understand how the scale works, but an exit has to meet very stringent qualifications for the male driver to leave the beloved Interstate. On our trips, exits must have gas, restrooms, food, and ice cream all-in-one (the ice cream part being my stipulation), and this all has to be on the right-hand-side of the exit so there is only one left-hand turn involved. However, there always seems to be a flaw in the exit process. I can summarize: the restroom involves asking the attendant for the key (which is typically chained to a ruler advertising the local taxidermist shop) and making the trek out back behind the car wash. In short, I have discovered that the male driver spends his entire life in search of the perfect exit. Good luck, gentlemen.

Congrats!

In true sports fashion, one of The Benchwarmer(s) jumped the broom. That is to say, Bradley Mac and Jaime were wed over the holidays. I offer my congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. MacDonald!