PURDUEABLE?

YOU, DUB, GOT SOME 'SPLAININ' TO DO 'BOUT U-DUB

Received a few "You must be on crack" e-mails regarding my upset pick of Washington, a 20-point dog, over Southern Cal. My favorite was from a reader in Utah who also accused me of having "an East Coast bias" (for picking a school located just off the Puget Sound?) while in the same letter informing me that he was taking Notre Dame over Purdue (as if that's any more sane).
Anyway, first of all: it is an upset pick. Of course it's against the grain. But then, Did any of you see Syracuse taking down Louisville last Saturday, or Ball State coming within a dropped pass and missed field goal of taking down Nebraska in Lincoln? Of course not.
So while the rational part of me believes USC will win, why not be a little unconventional? Besides, here are a few somewhat sane reasons to like U-Dub's chances.

1. Huskies are at home.
2. Huskies are home and the game will be in prime-time on national television= crowd + players are fired up
3. USC often plays underwhelmingly on the road in the Pac-Ten: see @ Oregon State and @ UCLA last year, where the Trojans lost both times. Even in Pullman it came down to the final series.
4. U-Dub had the ball on the USC 15-yard line last fall at the Coliseum with a chance to win when time ran out. Has anyone else come closer to beating the Trojans at home in the past four seasons?
5. Jake Locker....We love Jake Locker here at RumiNation.
6. Tyrone UnWillingham.... the U-Dub coach has taken a clue from "Opposite George" Costanza, being counterintuitive and finding that it works for him this season. Supposedly, he was even funny in this week's conference call.

So, would I put a dime on the Huskies to win? No. But can it happen? Why not?

HOW COME WEST LAFAYETTE HAS A BETTER IRISH BAR THAN THE HOME OF THE FIGHTING IRISH?

West Lafayette, or as I like to call it, WeLaf , was hopping last night. Perfect weather, Friday night before the first real opponent (don't laugh!) of the season, what would you expect? I met my good friends the Finks, Dave and Heather, who beside being hilarious and lovely (respectfully), are both Hawaii Ironman finishers. We found a great Irish bar, "O'Bryan's Nine Irish Brothers". It had live Irish music, Guinness, Smithwick's (pronounced "Smiddicks", which I learned last night via the T-shirt they sell which reads, "It's Smiddicks, Dumbass"), Guiness Stew, bangers-and-mash. The works. Great atmosphere, too.
The three of us even ran into the N.D. athletic braintrust: A.D. Kevin White, associate A.D. John Heisler, and football SIDs Brian Hardin and Michael Berch. Good men, all. we even thought of buying a round for their table, but then I remembered that I was cheap...and that I'd only hours earlier survived a near-death experience (see below).
If you find yourself in WeLaf anytime soon, hit O'Bryan's. You'll love it.
By the way, driving to Ross-Ade this morning, I caught some of Kevin White's radio show, named "The Kevin White Show". I've known Dr. White a long time, and I've always liked him very much, but I wonder why the show does not have a snappier name. I'm stumping for White Noise .

Tin Pushers

I'd like to thank the wonderful air-traffic controllers at O'Hare International Airport for making air travel seem like the Batman ride at the nearby Six Flags Great America. Let me explain: Yesterday was a perfect day weather-wise in the Windy City (for starters, it was not windy). Clear skies. You could see forever.
So here we are, on our United Airlines flight that originated from Laguardia Airport at 12:55 p.m. (in case any FAA officials are Johntouragers), on our final approach into O'Hare. Coming in from the west. We are so close to touching down that we've already crossed over the western-most runway at O'Hare. We cannot be more than five seconds, ten seconds tops, from landing.
And then I hear the engines rev, feel the nose of the plane tilt upward, and hear the groan of the engines as we struggle to reach escape velocity over Elk Grove. I thought that was it, and for about 30 seconds, it felt like it.
The best part was our captain coming over the loudspeaker--quickly, I might add, to his credit--to assuage our anxiety by explaining what had happened, then suddenly interrupting himself with, "Uh-oh, hold on a moment!"
What had happened, by the way? Apparently, there was still a plane on the runway. Planes are fairly big objects, no? And, as I said, visibility could not be any clearer.
Part of the reason I'm annoyed--please do not let the fact that I am Senor CrankyPants obfuscate the fact that I may be making a valid point-- is that this is the second time this has happened to me since mid-July. Both times it was on United flights, though this isn't the pilots' faults, I imagine.
So please, Air Traffic Controllers, do something for me to inspire confidence in you. You're starting to make me believe that that fey character in "Airplane!" ("And Larry's getting larger!") was an accurate stereotype. At the very least, please stop texting your buddies or playing "Halo 3" on the job. Because I'm sick of treating final approaches as if we're reliving James Lovell's air-craft carrier landings in "Lost Moon".
That's the reason they call it " final approach", after all. It's supposed to be the last one.

Quiz Answer: "Jimmy James" (Jimmy Clausen, James Aldridge)