I miss you, college football

It struck me the other day. Here, in the middle of Colorado, hours from Boulder, or Fort Collins, or Colorado Springs. Here I am hours from college football. And, I don't want to offend any of my new fellow Coloradoans, but... I'm thousands of miles from the BEST college football. Southern college football. Marching bands that all have names including the word "South" (Mighty Sound of the South, Pride of the Southland, Pride of the South). Dance lines with names like "The Dixie Darlings." Crazy manic fans, singing songs I love to hate (ahem, "Rocky Top"), or spraining their wrists to shake that cowbell just a little louder, or wearing pigs on their heads and hollering "Pig Soooie." I could be wrong, but I just don't see it happening here, where at a recent local high school football game there was the notable absence of both band and cheerleaders. Seriously.

Anyway, I was wallowing in self pity when I read this article and it just made me feel worse.

For example:

The entire South is about ready to explode as summer ends and autumn begins. Football's coming. The preseason magazines appear. Wallet-sized schedules materialize on gas station counters. Meals out are eaten over the soundtrack of folks predicting wins and losses -- and not just sports fans with fantasy teams and chicken wing sauce on their chins. No, grandmothers in Chanel and pearls get worked up -- I mean fired up, brother -- about beating LSU.

And...

I love most everything about Southern football, but more than anything else, I love for it to begin. This year, the twinges hit hard in mid-July. A work trip takes me to Cayce, near the South Carolina campus, where I find myself sitting at the counter of a local restaurant called the Kingsman. It's one of those places that seems as if it has been there forever, like the planets, or Styrofoam. I order a pimento cheeseburger. The Kingsman's famous for these gobs of cholesterol-laden goodness. They're messier than a small-town divorce, but damn, they're good. A woman works a hot griddle covered in sizzling, dancing meat. Then, apropos of nothing, she turns to a waitress who's calling in an order. The spirit's in her. And it's got to come out.

"Only 52 more days 'til football!" she hollers.

They've both stopped work for a moment. The waitress shakes her head.

"It's 51!" she hollers back.

The wait is almost over.

And also:

I love how people who get it are standing up in their office chairs right now ready to get it on and people who don't are scratching their heads and wondering what in the hell is wrong with these rednecks.

I get it. I'll be up and in front of College GameDay at like 8am tomorrow (Mountain time zone, you know). And I'll be living vicariously through those of you who will be there, so, holler extra loud for me, and if anybody asks, "What's the good word?" Give them the answer from me:

GO TO HELL OLE MISS!

Scattergories meme

Jazper, my favorite shop kitty, tagged me! I get to do a meme!

RULES: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...they have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.


What is your name? Sadie

4 letter word: Sled (this did mean an actual four letter word right? Not a curse word? Cause I'm saving that for the end)

Vehicle: Subaru

TV Show: Sunday Night Football

City: Seattle

Boy Name: Sam

Girl Name: Sarah

Alcoholic Drink: Smirnoff

Occupation: Shop Cat!

Something you wear: Socks

Celebrity: Streisand

Food: Spaghetti

Something found in a bathroom: Shower

Reason for being late: Slowness

Cartoon Character: Snow White

Something You Shout: Shit!

Wish he was wearing it

I love it!





There is a Michael Vick Suspension Petition, sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States, and directed toward the NFL Commissioner. It reads:

Dear NFL Commissioner Goodell,

Dogfighting is cruel and criminal, and football players must be held accountable like anyone else. Please suspend Vick immediately - anything less would reflect very badly on your judgment, and on the league.

You can leave your own comments on the petition as well. They have 48,562 signatures so far!

To sign this petition, just follow this link.

$50,000 Question

Trav tagged Morgen and Morgen tagged me for this meme. Here's what the meme is about:

A philanthropist awards you $50,000 with the stipulation that you may use half of it for yourself and the other half you must use for the benefit of others. By "benefit of others" it can mean anything really, buying a gift for a family member or donating to a charity.

My note: "you may use half of it for yourself." That means that I don't have to use ANY of it on myself. But I will. :)

A. How do you spend the money on yourself?
Honestly? Paying off debt. And maybe throw a vacation in there. To someplace tropical and fruity and all-inclusive. But that would include Mr. Incredible, so it would partially in the "for others" category...

B. How do you use the money for others?
I'd make donations to animal shelters and places like House of Mews in Memphis.

I'd also take my sister and my mom on a "NYC in the fall" trip like we've been planning for ages and never taken. But since I'd go too, that would be partially for myself. There is much overlap here.

C. If you were to spend part of your money to have a performer do a show for you, who would it be and why?
What kind of "show" are we talking about here? Cause Chris Daughtry would be involved.

D. If you were to use it on a new vehicle for yourself, what kind?
I don't know. I like our two current vehicles. Maybe I'd trade Harriet for a Honda Ridgeline. Again, I'm working in a $25,000 limit, right? Cause that's extremely, well, limiting. Since Mr. Incredible would really really like the Ridgeline, does this come under the "for others" side?

E. If you spent part of it to go to a "fantasy" camp, what type would you choose?
Is there country music singer fantasy camp? Cause that's what I would want. That would kick ass.

F. If you were to use it to buy season tickets for a sports team, what team would it be?
MEMPHIS BASKETBALL TIGERS. Of course, that would only be partially for myself, because my friends would get to use them when I didn't, which would be all the time, because I live 1500 miles away. But I could use them whenever I want to visit. So that counts as not for myself. How bout the Denver Broncos? That'd be sweet. And make Mr. Incredible happy as well. See how this is working out, both of those purchases could come out of the "for others" category.

G. If you were to use it to go on a cruise (assuming you like cruises) where would you cruise to?
Alaska. Or Greece. Or maybe around the whole world. Damn, I wish dude gave me $50 million instead of just $50,000. Cause I could cruise a lot farther on that.

H. If you were to use it to go to NYC to see a show (or shows) what would you see?
Current shows? Er... Dunno. I haven't been paying proper attention to new shows in a while. I want to see Wicked. And pretty much if it's a Broadway Musical, I want to see it. Les Mis is my all time favorite, but I've seen that eleventy times. Though never actually ON Broadway, so maybe that would make it all complete.

I. Totally off subject (but since Fall is coming) what is your favorite carnival food?
Pronto Pups, no question.


I was not given instructions on how many to tag, or even that I HAD to tag. So... I'm leaving this one up for grabs. If you wanna play, have at it!

Manic Monday: Seven Lies My Mother Told Me

Today's Manic Monday word:
Lie.

I have gone from being meme queen to meme slacker lately. Mo always tags me, and I always LOVE it. When he doesn't tag me, I always self-tag. But lately, you know, I've been a busy bee and I have just been entirely delinquent. So. Since he did this meme to redeem his past non-meme-doings, I'm taking up on the same deal. I'm supposed to list ten lies that my mother told me.

Plus, it fits with Manic Monday, so yay!

Here we go!

1. 
   

Dude. Blogger's license. I'm going to flip this around and do lies I told my mother instead. It's just way easier. And I'm still struggling to come up with ten. Because I was such an honest kid. :)

1. "Can you sign this piece of paper? I'm making an autograph book and I need your autograph." After which I wrote, above her signature, some sort of something for school. I can't even remember what that was for.
2. "I have to do a book report for school." Yeah. I was in 2nd grade, and I didn't have that assignment. I just wanted to do a project. I even made up the book too. As eternal punishment for that lie, while I was working on it I stabbed myself with a pencil and still have that little piece of pencil lead in my hand.
3. "There will be a chaperone." I totally went to an honor band weekend senior year at Tennessee Tech with no adult supervision. Our band director didn't even go. Just four of us in one car and we got our own hotel rooms. And you know the dorkiest part? We actually went to the honor band. And didn't miss any rehearsals. Dorks.
4. "I'm spending the night with Denise."
   
5. "We fell asleep watching a movie, that's why I missed curfew."
6. "I already did my homework." Look, I know these last two are pretty standard and everything, but seriously. How many lies can I be expected to fess up to in one post?
7. "Yes, I made the car payment (on the loan you cosigned)." Sorry about that one, Mom. I didn't know they'd call you and threaten repossession the week before Christmas.
   

Sorry I just came up with 7. Either I was a very honest kid or I have selective memory...