DAILY DOMER: FROM HAPPY VALLEY

--Overheard at a tailgater as I made my way to Beaver Stadium: "Now here's the difference between Baltimore and Mexico..." (Seriously, I should have stopped just to learn what the difference was).

--Most popular T-shirt I see students wearing today: On the front it reads "MAKE MICHIGAN" and on the back "OUR BICHIGAN".

--Dozing off last night, I watched most of an episode of "Walker: Texas Ranger" for the first time. I'm wondering how many "Excessive Force" citations Walker received. "Dude, seriously, cuff me now before you deliver another roundhouse kick."

--Tina Fey on "Letterman", discussing her impersonation of Sarah Palin. "It's the easiest voice to imitate since 'Slingblade'." Is there anyone who can't do at least a halfway decent "French fried potaters" voice?

--Dave's next guest was Frank Caliendo, who wore a navy-blue suit and thus it was not imperative for Dave to tell him, on national TV, that his fly was unzipped. You could tell that Caliendo felt like, "What a d_____", but he handled it well, turning it into a fairly funny bit.  

--Josh Brolin (and Oliver Stone) on Charlie Rose last night. He's my newest man-crush. He trades stocks, reads Shakespeare, and is married to Diane Lane. Anyone else noticed that his last two characters, and the ones that have suddenly made him an A-list star (as opposed to just being Barbara Streisand's stepson), are both beer-swilling Texans who suddenly find themselves in way over their heads?

--Details about both Letterman and Charlie Rose for you. So, no, I didn't make it out to the Rathskellar or College Avenue last night. In fact, I even watched most of the Hawaii-Boise State game. The Broncos dominated, but Warrior wideout Greg Salas has some ridiculous mitts on him (you mean they couldn't find a way to get him more P.T. last season?) and has suddenly become my new favorite palindrome.

--Speaking of which, we've already covered the abomination that palindrome is not palindromic. Here's another one: how come anagram is not anagrammatical? I mean, I'm no Scrabble master, but you can't make another word out of anagram, can you?

--So Joe the Plumber isn't a licensed plumber? And he owes more than $1,100 in back taxes? And his first name is actually "Samuel"? But he does make $250,000 a year, or is in that ballpark? I'm just wondering how sympathetic his tale would be if, at that income, he were "Chad the Anesthesiologist"?

--I love that a former college football player posted this highlight of his own hit. Then again, if you or I ever snot-bubbled someone this thoroughly, we'd probably post it, too.

--Just used the press box men's room here in Beaver Stadium (by the way, they remodel the press box here in State College every time Penn State hires a new head football coach). Saw two phone numbers scribbled on the wall. A new definition of desperate would be calling a number you saw in a press box bathroom.

--One more note on that unfinished quality of Beaver Stadium. Almost all of the stands are white aluminum benches, except for the upper tier of the south end zone, which is all blue seats. I guess it doesn't make a difference when they're all occupied, but when the stadium is empty, it looks a little haphazard.

--Terrific piece by Jere Longman in Friday's New York Times about the offense run by the Piedmont (Calif.) High School football team. Called the A-11 (which sounds like the page you'd have to jump to in order to read the rest of the story), it takes advantage of a loophole in the rules. As long as the QB lines up deeper than seven yards behind scrimmage, it is considered punt formation. And thus, anyone with any number is eligible to catch a pass as long as he lines up correctly.

You can read it for yourself, but basically the trick is to use unorthodox formations at the line of scrimmage. Football 101: at least seven players must line up on the line of scrimmage, and only the two at either end are eligible to receive a pass. What Piedmont does is eliminate the offensive tackle positions and split people wide and in different unbalanced formations. Kind of like Boise State on acid. The idea is to eliminate the advantage the opposition has in size and to take advantage of speed and athleticism. It's more like basketball than football.

Piedmont High, you may recall, is also the same bastion of academia that provided Johnny Carson with all those entertaining bird-callers years ago. That was classic television right there.

--And finally, since we're talking Boise State and A-11, here is a classic trick play found on YouTube. The "Wrong Ball" play. Must have been an interesting postgame handshake.