For My Friend Scottius Maximus

Ruh-roh. Do you think this will affect the Cardinals playoff chances?

Everyone in Cleveland

who wanted to piss on this guy's grave can start lining up now. Just sayin'.

A Slice of America

One of my college professors, an immigrant from Germany, said that she didn't completely understand American culture because she hadn't gone to an American high school. That may or may not be true, but as I attend high school football games with an adult eye, I realize how much of it is uniquely American. Now, American football is played in places outside of the United States. As a matter of fact, a team from Canada came down to our area to play earlier this month. Of course, the article shows that there is still a difference in popularity between football here, and anywhere else.

Are high school age level marching bands a mainly American thing? I did a little searching on the internet and couldn't find much on foreign marchers. I have read that teenage sports can be taken as seriously in other countries as high school athletics here. However, is there that "Friday night lights" feel? The cheerleaders, the marching bands, Homecoming, the age level of spectators--from octogenarians to toddlers? Do school boosters have concession stands, serving local versions of our pizza, hot dogs and popcorn? Do other countries have similar jock/cheerleader stereotypes?

I am having fun attending all these high school games. I'm also finding I enjoy watching football at the high school level.

The Whirlwind of Life

Life has not slowed down; it has instead gotten more hectic. I think I have been more tired in the last couple of days than I have been my entire life. Sure, in high school and college, I burned the candle at both ends often, but I was also a lot younger and so I think I bounced back more quickly. The past couple of days I was operating on auto-pilot, and not doing well when I had to go off-course. This caused a lot of laughter for those around me, especially when I ended up asking for scrambled pancakes at the IHOP yesterday.

Friday night was the first high school football game, and the Musician's first night in the marching band. The place was absolutely packed, on both sides, since the rival high school directly adjoins our town. I find it interesting the way they have the home team stands set up. One section was for season ticket holders (yes, seriously,) three sections were general admission, one section was for the high schoolers, and one section was for students at the middle school and intermediate school.

We saw quite a few people we knew. Our GP was there, our favorite phlebotomist (who is now a stay-at-home mom and who we called our vampire,) a young man who works at the local grocery store, and of course lots of teachers and students the girls know. Thursday night a young woman who taught the Musician's riding classes came to the marching band preview. She could very well have been in the crowd on Friday night, since the place was so full you couldn't see everyone.

Mr. BTEG worked one of the concession stands Friday night; the profits go to the band, and all band parents have to help with some of the fundraisers. Yes, fundraisers can be a pain. On the other hand, our band room is beautifully appointed, the uniforms are nice, and we don't have a pay-to-play system like some local schools do. Concessions did a booming business; they were pretty much out of everything by the time the game ended. Some other group was doing a Krispy Kreme fundraiser which also seemed very popular. I will have to find out where the donuts are next time!

This was my first Friday night football game! My high school had so little money at the time I attended that our football field did not have lights, so all games were on Saturday afternoon.

It seems to me that people give more readily when there is some sort of incentive. There was a Souper Bowl fundraiser for local food pantries that pitted the two schools competing against each other to see who could raise the most in money and nonperishable food donated. It did spectacularly well. Human nature, I suppose. Our side won the fundraiser, which is just as well, as the football team played poorly and lost the actual game. :)

National Felons' League

The accidental death of a human being is a sad thing. I just wonder why millionaire football players don't hire a limo if they are planning to drink. So much grief could have and should have been avoided.

Baby Love

We finally got to meet the newest member of our family, Grace, yesterday! She is adorably cute, and it was so nice to hold a baby again! I am happy for my sister-in-law and her husband who have this little bundle of sunshine in their lives.

She is already a Bears fan.

Here she is wearing the sleeper I bought her. Isn't it nice?
And here's the bib I knitted for her. I did it a little differently from the pattern; I made the main part of the bib all one width. I was aware it might affect how the bib laid, but I washed it and laid it out flat to dry, and I think it will work. I am going to make another one all in orange, for when Grace eats strained carrots. They stain something awful. One of those things you learn when you have a baby around. :)

You Know How They Say

that spouses end up acting like each other? Well, when Mr. BTEG and I were in college together, I could have telephone conversations with him during which he was not awake for any of it. I was driving Mr. BTEG to work this morning, and I asked him how the football game ended last night. He said, "I told you last night when I came to bed. We had a whole discussion about it." I replied that I didn't remember having any conversation. I guess I'm turning into my husband!

Halloween Eve

It was a lovely evening in Northeast Ohio for trick-or-treating, or just sitting outside and enjoying the evening while handing out a bit of candy. After the girls made the rounds of the neighborhood, we took the girls and a friend to Dave and Buster's. Mr. BTEG and I were there last weekend to sit at the bar and watch football; we picked up some Halloween game pieces and won $200 in free game tokens, which were redeemable on Halloween. Mr. BTEG and the girls played lots of games; I rested quite a bit in the car, since I am still sick. My fellow Lutherans in church this morning noticed that my voice is just about gone. Today is a good day to kick back and watch football.

Giant Killers

The analogy is so apt, isn't it? The Cleveland Browns, one of the "Davids" of the National Football League, beat the mighty Giants handily last night. Mr. BTEG tried to get us tickets, but they were too expensive. I'm happy, anyway. And I'll bet there are a lot of sleepy/"sick" workers in Cleveland today.

UPDATE: The Dancer's ballet class assistant was at the game last night and called in sick to school today. Although she actually *was* kinda sick also.

LOLBrowns

More at the aptly named Waiting for Next Year.

Via Dawgs by Nature.

Fun and Games

Here we are in our child-free weekend, and although I miss the chilluns, Mr. EG and I have been having some fun. Yesterday we stopped at Dave and Buster's on the way home and played air hockey, billiards (I'm an expert at slop ball), and raced each other in a race car game. It was something we haven't done in a while, and a nice change.

Today after church we stopped for the first time at Bubba's Q restaurant, owned by former Cleveland Brown Al "Bubba" Baker. Supposedly it is the only restaurant in the country to sell de-boned baby back ribs, which were good but not quite to my taste. My husband, a football fan of That Evil Town to the East, might not have liked some of the wall decor, which included autographed jerseys from Bernie Kosar and Brian Sipe. The football theme was carried throughout, down to the menus, which felt like a football on the outside and were colored orange or brown.

Today I'm hoping to get some sewing and house cleaning done with only Mr. EG under foot. :) I'm glad we're getting the kids back tomorrow. They're probably having a fantastic time at the water park.

Warning: first two links have sound.

Greed

I hate to make sweeping "I'm picking up my toys and going home" statements, but I don't think I'll be very interested in watching Cleveland Browns football this year, after this. I don't know anything beyond what's in this article, but Quinn has not even signed with the Browns yet, undoubtedly because he's holding out for an enormous contract. For someone who expects multiple millions, asking $75 or more for a signature just seems like nothing more than pure, unadulterated greed. What kind of "costs" were associated with this event besides the money forked out to Quinn in return for an "exclusive contract" for his signature? I haven't been very into the football scene in years, and maybe this is the norm, but I think it's wrong, especially so for someone who has not even spent a minute officially in a Browns uniform. If this is the standard in the National Felon's League, they can make their millions without my contribution.

In Honor of the NFL Draft

this great quote from Fred Thompson: "On draft day, the NFL looks at a young man’s talent. Then they look at his rap sheet." Go to Pajamas Media to read it all. Boy, Fred's getting around, isn't he?

h/t harrison.

For the Scientist

Since my daughter is a Colts fan (because they have a horse name), here are a couple of videos for her.


This one has a former Survivor cast member in it.

Da Bearsss

Until the Super Bowl actually starts, here's something for you to watch!

The Amplified Bears Super Bowl Shuffle:

Peace

Ahh, peace, sweet peace. The kind of peace you get when you're really, really exhausted, so that your body kind of shuts down and you don't care about anything except the feel of the blanket around you and your head on the soft pillow. There is a slight nagging worry about why you've been feeling constantly tired lately, but you can push that away, for now. Restful for the mind, bad for blogging.

I'm glad the Bears made it into the Super Bowl, because my sister-in-law is thrilled about that. She's been a Bears fan for ages. Now if only this mojo thing I have going (the Cards, the Bears) would work for one of my teams! Or maybe I need to find someone else with mojo to root for my teams.

She's Not the Only One

Right now we're studying Ohio history and facts about Ohio. I told the girls that Ohio has two professional football teams and asked if they could name them. The Scientist piped up brightly with "Ohio State..." And yes, she does know the Browns too. Unfortunately, she chooses to cheer for That Team to the East, along with her father. At least Wildchild roots with me for our poor doomed football team in Cleveland.

In other exciting news, we don't get the wildlife sightings of the Quilter, but we did get to watch a neighborhood cat eat a mouse in our backyard. Yum.

Our Secret Is Out!

Heard on a Pittsburgh tourism commerical here in Cleveland: "Even if you don't like our football team, and we know you don't..."

O - H - I - O!

Okay, so living in Columbus for several years, I did grow heartily sick of Ohio State Football. I mean, the quarterback of the football team couldn't get a hangnail without it being on the front page of the paper and the feature story on the six o'clock news. But there is such a thing as state pride, and especially when we play Michigan, I root for the Bucks all the way!

While searching for something else, I found the humorous House Concurrent Resolution No. 16 to make "Hang On Sloopy" the official rock song of Ohio (you have to scroll down.) I hope you get a chuckle out of it like I did.

And by the way, "Hang On Sloopy" is also the theme song of the Ohio State football team, maybe the entire The Ohio State University(TM). Thus my train of thought above.