2 comments Thursday, April 24, 2008

The trend continues as my Bearcats continue to move in the right direction. Rivals.com lists their top 12 non-conference games of the upcoming 2008 season, and the Bearcats' road trip to Norman, Oklahoma ranks #8 overall. It certainly will be interesting to see how well we stack up against a perennial powerhouse like Oklahoma. If you ask me, this matchup serves as a true measure of how far Brian Kelly has brought this program. Here is the breakdown of the game from Rivals.com:

8. Cincinnati at Oklahoma, Sept. 6: This is one of five Big East-Big 12 matchups this season, and each has some intrigue. If Bearcats QB Ben Mauk is given a sixth season of eligibility, the game becomes even more interesting. The Sooners' rebuilt defense will get a test from a diversified Cincy offense, and Sooners QB Sam Bradford will be throwing against the best pair of corners he'll see all season. But will the Bearcats be able to run on the Sooners?

In other Bearcat news, Urban Meyer (fellow Bearcat alum) had some very nice things to say about the Bearcats and the direction they are headed after paying a visit to Nippert Stadium to watch a spring practice. Here are a few quotes from the article:

"The facilities are phenomenal. That practice was a legitimate practice with a bunch of good football players."

"I'm leaving here going, 'That was legit. ... That team is going to challenge for a championship.' "

I seem to be repeating myself alot lately, but I can't help it. I am continually impressed with the progress that Coach Kelly and the whole athletic department is making in the quality of facilities, athletes, and promotion produced in support of the football program. Even this weekend's Lettermen's Weekend seems to have stepped it up a notch. I'll report back after Saturday's "Bearcat Bowl II" with my impressions of how our program is shaping up.


3 comments Monday, December 17, 2007

If you haven't already, click here to see the latest trailer for "The Dark Knight". They certainly are capturing everything that is cool about Batman and his evil counterpart Joker. Any trailer that uses the classic imagery of Batman glaring over Gotham City from high atop a tower instantly has me hooked. Throw in some cool cape action, and I melt like a seventh grade school-girl at a Justin Timberlake concert.

Almost more importantly, Heath Ledger looks like he captured the true nature of Joker. Ominous, menacing, and just plain creepy. No more pudgy Jack dancing around in an art gallery. After all, Jack did nother more than played Jack with a little makup on in the first Batman movie (yeah, yeah, I know it wasn't hte "first" Batman movie, but you know what I am talking about).

Heath appears to be the maniacle killer that is our hero's foil. Every other villain in the comics serves as no more than a stand-in to occupy Batman's idle-time until Joker returns from some sentence, vacation, etc. I hope this isn't a one-and-done movie for Joker. Let's treat it like the comics, without each other, neither of them exist in their truest/coolest form.

They way I figure it, if Heath pulled off "Brokeback Mountain", Joker should be a breeze...

3 comments Friday, December 14, 2007


Trailer debuts Sunday. Check back then for my impressions, if you care... :)

0 comments Tuesday, November 27, 2007

John Folmer, the football committee chairman for the Sun Bowl, said Monday night that the Sun Bowl had decided to invite South Florida ahead of UC, even though the Bearcats beat the Bulls during the regular season.

"They may have lost to Cincinnati, but at the end of the day we thought USF would do a better job," he said.

I don't exacly understand his reasoning. The Bearcats certainly play a more "exciting" brand of football with our spread offense and the nations leading turnover-creating defense.

Here are some other "reasons" why we aren't going to the Sun Bowl:
The Sun Bowl expects to get Oregon State as the representative from the Pac-10. UC has already beaten Oregon State this season and bowl officials do not like to have rematches. - I can buy this one.

Folmer said the decision was based on USF being the higher-ranked team in the BCS standings. Both teams finished 9-3, but the Bulls are No. 21 with UC at No. 23 in the BCS standings. UC was ranked No. 20 in the Associated Press poll, USF No. 25. - How they are ranked higher in the BCS, I don't know. Is it the win over Auburn?

Regardless of all of the politics involved, I love Brian Kelly's response: "We'll be happy to play anywhere, anytime, anyplace." Please don't leave us Coach Kelly!!!

3 comments Wednesday, November 21, 2007


At the tail end of ESPN.com's current headline article there is a nice mention of UC and the Holy Grail of pizza sauce:

"When hungry in Cincinnati, The Dash recommends a slice of LaRosa's Pizza (40). The local favorite can be found about everywhere, and Cincinnatians will rhapsodize about the sauce. You won't find a leafy idyllic look on campus at the University of Cincinnati, but The Dash is impressed by the modernization efforts around the school's very cool, middle-of-campus football facility, Nippert Stadium."

Granted, I am a little biased, but having played in quite a few stadiums across country, Nippert truly is a one-of-a-kind experience. No other stadium that I have been to is dropped smack-dab in the middle of campus (literally 50 feet away from the student union, the College of Engineering, and other Univerisity buildings) like The Nipp.

As for LaRosa's Pizza comment, I totally agree. We now buy the sauce in six pound bags every time we go down to Cincy to use on our homemade pizzas. No store-bought sauce compares and we are too lazy to try making our own. But, really, could we come up with a sauce better than LaRosa's? I can't imagine it possible.

Speaking of pizza, can anyone name the pizza chain that this post's title came from?

2 comments Monday, November 19, 2007

Obligatory Fanboy Declaration: Amazon is staple in my household. Almost all gift purchases, especially Christmas gifts, are purchased there. The prices rock, delivery is usually free, and they have everything. If you ask me, and some have, Amazon.com represents the Mecca of modern commerce.


On to my gushing, geeky gizmo gawking...

Kindle, Amazon's first tangible product, appears to be the revolutionary leap into ebooks that so many geekified readers yearned for. For the past few years, I stumbled through the bleeding edge of ebook reader technology (PDAs, phones, computers, BlackBerries. You name it, I have tried it.). If they pull it off as well as the demo makes us believe, I could be in heaven.

Being a not-so-small guy, I am a sucker for hardcover copies of books. They tend to be more durable, substatial to hold, and just a whole lot cooler (if you ask me). However, if a simple 10.3 ounces can hold up to 200 books, I will gladly stop lugging around my shoebox sized hardcover novels. No longer would I be restricted to whatever book is in my backpack. If a different genre/story grabs my fancy for the available free time I have at that moment, I can jump right into it regardless of where I am. This is the coup de grĂ¢ce for me. Put my entire library in the palm of my hand using a retina-friendly screen, and I am a disciple.

Does paying $2 to read a blog feed seem outlandish to me? Yes.
Is it an entirely unproven technology? Yes.
Will version 2.0 will be more refined, easier to use, etc.? Yes.
Am I am jumping on the Kindle bandwagon solely based on Amazon's marketing? Yes.

Do I still want one in the worst way? Hell yes!