Ewww that smell!!

Although I am not anally ritualistic, one could call me a creature of habit. There are things about me that I tend to repeat over and over. Some of those are good and some not so good. For example, I like to be at the front of the line when boarding an airplane; therefore I am predictably early to the airport. I brush my teeth after brushing my hair. I eat street bagels for breakfast and “o-bento” Japanese lunchbox virtually every day (when in New York). I feel something is missing about a church service when there hasn’t been a congregational recitation of the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. I only use Old Spice original scent stick deodorant. My comfort zone finds itself in the rituals of everyday life.

One ritual that I have maintained for the last two decades is the Wall Street Journal. Although I am not a professional market analyst, I find the paper interesting and stimulating. Some days, however, I just read it for the discipline, and this is where the ritual comes in. When I was in graduate school at Emory University, I had a professor who said “Read something every day, even if it’s the newspaper. Read it from cover to cover. Read the articles you are interested in. Read the ones you are not. Just read. It is the only way to stay current and informed.” I took that message to heart, and have as a ritualistic discipline read the Wall Street Journal as my first order of business every morning for the past 20 years. It is the “why” behind coming to work early every day. It is my time to read.

This morning, as I was reading the WSJ (and I no longer read the print version, I now read the online version), I came across an interesting article entitled “Why Do the British Stink at Basketball?” Hmmm. I never really thought about it. I guess I should have. I am married to a Brit. I eat shepherd’s pie and Yorkshire puddings. My son lives and breathes basketball. Once upon a time, I even had a subscription to the Wisdon Cricket magazine, which detailed the minutia of Cricket statistics for every team in the U.K. and the West Indies. But it never really occurred to me that the British stink at basketball.

The point of the article was to question the decision by the NBA that the New Jersey Nets and the Toronto Raptors would cross the pond next March to play a pair of regular season games --- the first ever --- in London. The move to play in Europe wasn’t a shock, as the league has players like Spain's Pau Gasol, Germany's Dirk Nowitzki and Serbia's Peja Stojakovic, who have become marquee names. In addition one of the NBA's newest owners is a Russian oligarch. The article goes on to say, “the only part of the spectacle that doesn't entirely add up is the league's choice of venue: London.” In the U.K., basketball not only isn’t one of the top 3 or 4 sports falling behind soccer, rugby and cricket. The popularity of basketball even falls behind snooker.

That being said, maybe the NBA sees the fertilizer potential behind that methane smell. Do the British stink at basketball? Yes. Do the Brits care about basketball? For those over the age of 16, not really. BUT, in a survey done by the United Kingdom Department for Culture, Media and Sport, children in London and Edinburgh ages 11 to 15 were asked what type of sports jersey they would like to own. 47% of these children responded “NBA jerseys”.

The NBA is not holding its nose. They are betting that “stink” you smell regarding the British and basketball is the smell of money.

Until next time,

WJLaneSR

Sponge Bob's Neighbor

Living in a house shaped like an Easter Island Moai Head, Squidward is the narcissistic neighbor of Sponge Bob. He works as a cashier at the Krusty Krab, a job he thoroughly dislikes. Squidward could be described as a malcontent, a delusional egotist who displays an unjustly air of superiority. Although Sponge Bob and Patrick (the pink starfish who lives under a rock) consider Squidward their friend, the feeling is anything but mutual. An ambiguous character, one is never sure if the six tentacled cephalopod is a squid or an octopus.

The voice for the clarinet playing Squidward is Rodger Bumpass. Bumpass, whose voice acting credits include “The Jetsons” ( a cartoon that is more MY generation than “SpongeBob SquarePants”), is the brother-in-law of Ben Stiller. Bumpass is married to Ben’s sister, Amy Stiller. Bumpass enjoys riding a recumbent bicycle when he visits Alma Mater which is located in his childhood hometown. As an in-joke by the producers of the “SpongeBob SquarePants Movie”, Squidward does too.

Bumpass is loyal supporter of his Alma Mater. Although the war cry was “Go Indians” when he was a student, in the fall of 2008 the mascot was changed to the “Red Wolves”. The “Indians” mascot was used to honor Osage Nation that inhabited the area in the 1800’s. However, due to outside pressure claiming that the usage of “Indians” was racist and bigoted, the school retired their mascot on February 28, 2008 during the last basketball game of the season. There was a groundswell of support amongst students to call themselves “The Squidwards” in honor of their famous alumnus. Never taking this seriously, the school officially became the “Red Wolves” of Arkansas State University.

The scarlet and black Arkansas State Red Wolves are in the Sun Belt Conference. Other schools in this conference include Troy, Louisiana Monroe, Western Kentucky, Louisiana Lafayette, and Florida Atlantic University. Not only do the Red Wolves have conference affiliation in common with these other schools, they also have opponents in common. Each of these Sun Belt Conference schools are scheduled to play at least one Southeastern Conference school during the 2010 football season. Arkansas State opens their season with Auburn.

The Red Wolves have a new offensive coordinator this year, and his name is Hugh Freeze. His is a name that may be familiar to Southeastern Conference fans as Freeze was the interim head coach at the University of Mississippi in 2007. Freeze, who was 20-5 over the last two years at Lambuth University, took the offensive helm at ASU on February 26, 2010. During the past half decade, Freeze’s offense averaged 465 yards per game, and over 40 points per game. He is both a student and teacher of “up-tempo, wide-open spread offense.” His teams have averaged 50 passing plays per game during the past 3 years. Opposing defensive coordinators have called his schemes “confusing and ambiguous, very hard to figure out”.

Sounds a bit like Squidward. Here’s hoping Auburn can get into his Moai Head.

‘Til next time,

WJLaneSr

'Tis the Season.....

Chops and links sizzling over red hot charcoal. Cold pints wrapped in traditional crested mugs. Flags of battle hoisted high above decorated canopies of shade. Insulated coolers packed with provisions and potions. Occasional battle cries from fans intoxicated by libations and atmosphere. Children wearing jerseys of past and present heroes while tossing footballs and imagining glory. The orchestrated chaos of festive tailgation.

It’s football time again.

It has been some time since I last updated my blog. Like Brett Favre, I took a semi-retirement hiatus. Also like the mad Mississippian (and for my Tide fans, note how to spell “Mississippi”), I just can’t stay away. After all, the first game kicks off one week from tonight. I wonder if Favre will be watching as his Southern Miss Golden Eagles take on the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

To prepare for this year’s season, I attended the New York City/Southeastern Conference Kick-off banquet last night. The featured speaker was Brad Edwards of ESPN radio. Mr. Edwards, a Bama graduate, talked about his #1 ranked Crimson Tide, and shockingly predicted that they would lose at least 2 SEC games this year. His prognostication was that Arkansas, in Fayetteville, would upset the Tide, and that South Carolina, in Columbia, would do the same. The reason: Florida is packed right between those two games.

Edwards also predicted that the winner of the SEC East would have at least 2 conference losses, and that it would come down to Georgia or Florida….the last drunk standing after the World’s Largest Cocktail Party. Interestingly, he predicted that Arkansas was poised to win the West, and might do it going away.

As for LSU, Edwards believes it is do or die for Les Miles, and in his opinion, Miles will be gone after this season. The Mad Hatter will take his nonsensical Tea Party somewhere else.

Edwards predicted that the Vols would struggle, Vandy may not win a conference game, and Mississippi State would upset someone they aren’t supposed to beat. He finished his speech by saying that the two real question marks in the conference were Ole Miss and Auburn. His take was that both had the schedules, excitement, quarterbacks and potential to run the table. He did NOT think they would, and said that both schools could also find themselves losing 3-4 conference games each.

Finally, Edwards predicted that there would not be an undefeated SEC team this year, and because of that, the BCS would put two teams from other conferences in the National Championship Game. His final prediction: Kellen Moore, QB of Boise State, would win the Heisman Trophy.

I found all of this very interesting, coming from an Alabama graduate. Will any of this come to pass? Who knows. After all, that’s why they play the game. And besides, today…..everyone’s guess could be right.

Until next time…

WJLaneSR