GO! RUTGERS! GO! (I mean Texas!)
I feel dirty.
I did something I said I wouldn't do.
I cheered for another football team. I cheered for Rutgers.
Last night, I sat in front of the TV slowly biting my nails, twisting my hair; tapping my foot impatiently . . . I was also designing the sports page. See, my page was dependent on this game -- the art and stories -- 90 percent of it hung in the balance until the last seconds.
But let's start at the beginning.
This week I've designed the sports cover, and my interests in the Rutgers vs. Louisville game got peaked. In the BCS standings No. 3 Louisville is ranked above my beloved No.5 Texas Longhorns.
See where I come from football is king. You may have heard the sayings "live and die by the Friday night Lights" and "football is second only to God." Then there are movies like Varsity Blues and Friday Night Lights. It's not something Hollywood made up; it is life in Texas in some form or another.
It's not just high school football, but college too.
In Austin, my hometown, the burnt orange of the Texas Longhorns is in every aspect of city life. It doesn't matter if you went to the school or not because during a home game the city is a sea of orange. In high school my Friday nights were defined by the lights and in college -- I didn't miss a home in five years. So you see, I'm a bit of a fan. As we say in Austin, I bleed orange.
When I moved to New Jersey, I felt like I left behind the lights. I realized people didn't have a football addiction the way we do in Texas. It was a shocker and a little heart breaking.
Last night as I sat there, yelling at the TV for Rutgers defense to get their act together in the first half, it shocked my co-workers. So did my fists pumping in the air as Rutgers scored touchdowns and fingers crossed as they kicked field goals.
As the clock ran down with a score of 25-25, I felt like I was back home. Sure, it wan't orange and white I was routing for -- but for a moment the "Friday night lights" adrenalin ran through New Jersey.
Ok, Thursday night lights. But what's one day among friends?
On Tivo: Arrested Development
I did something I said I wouldn't do.
I cheered for another football team. I cheered for Rutgers.
Last night, I sat in front of the TV slowly biting my nails, twisting my hair; tapping my foot impatiently . . . I was also designing the sports page. See, my page was dependent on this game -- the art and stories -- 90 percent of it hung in the balance until the last seconds.
But let's start at the beginning.
This week I've designed the sports cover, and my interests in the Rutgers vs. Louisville game got peaked. In the BCS standings No. 3 Louisville is ranked above my beloved No.5 Texas Longhorns.
See where I come from football is king. You may have heard the sayings "live and die by the Friday night Lights" and "football is second only to God." Then there are movies like Varsity Blues and Friday Night Lights. It's not something Hollywood made up; it is life in Texas in some form or another.
It's not just high school football, but college too.
In Austin, my hometown, the burnt orange of the Texas Longhorns is in every aspect of city life. It doesn't matter if you went to the school or not because during a home game the city is a sea of orange. In high school my Friday nights were defined by the lights and in college -- I didn't miss a home in five years. So you see, I'm a bit of a fan. As we say in Austin, I bleed orange.
When I moved to New Jersey, I felt like I left behind the lights. I realized people didn't have a football addiction the way we do in Texas. It was a shocker and a little heart breaking.
Last night as I sat there, yelling at the TV for Rutgers defense to get their act together in the first half, it shocked my co-workers. So did my fists pumping in the air as Rutgers scored touchdowns and fingers crossed as they kicked field goals.
As the clock ran down with a score of 25-25, I felt like I was back home. Sure, it wan't orange and white I was routing for -- but for a moment the "Friday night lights" adrenalin ran through New Jersey.
Ok, Thursday night lights. But what's one day among friends?
On Tivo: Arrested Development
posted by Lucy Quintanilla at 1:17 AM
4 Comments:
"I feel dirty." -- Lucy Quintanilla
Well, get one of those really long wash clothes (e.g., beach towels) that can reach all those body parts that you otherwise would be unable to reach by your own volition. Then again, that's just a suggestion. What the hell would I know?
"These times we do Corrections you will just have to bear with the people who care a lot about it. In the overall scheme of things, it's a minor part of a month's offerings." -- Bob Ingle (December 5, 2006)
"People"?? As in plural? As in more than one person?
It is patently obvious that most, if not all, of the posts on this (your) particular thread (blog) are coming from the same disturbed individual. Now that you are approving each and every post to this blog -- and, might I add, conveniently ignoring those posts that are in any way critical of yourself -- don't you feel that you have squandered what little credibility you have left?
You, Mr. Ingle, are quickly becoming the Art Bell of journalists with their own blog site. People tune in not because what they hear or read is credible, but rather because it is funny to a see a host and his posters that hold obsessions that border on those held by, quite frankly, the mentally ill.
"And I couldn't agree more that No Child Left Behind is idiotic. Only lousy teachers who want to teach to the test would want that. It destroys the creativity of good teachers and it's the kind of program you'd expect from a president who was lackluster all his life up to and including the week." -- Bob Ingle
Mr. Ingle, George W. Bush is an Ivy League educated man. He made millions in his business dealings long before he ever entered public service. He has hired thousands of people in his lifetime. He is happily married with two daughters that adore him. He was twice elected the Governor of Texas. The American people have twice elected him to be their (our) president.
What have you, Bob Ingle, done that would, by contrast, possibly compel you to call those accomplishments "lackluster?"
With respect to your teacher comments ...
Yada, yada, yada. Thank you NJEA and their puppet, Bob Ingle, for the above commercial. Thank you even more, Mr. Ingle, for your tough talk. It is always nice to see someone that never professionally taught anything to anyone fault the President of The United States because he, too, and like most of us, has never worked in a classroom.
What's wrong with testing students and their teachers and making those results available to the general public via, say, the Internet? What's wrong with imposing objective, clearly defined standards upon students and their teachers? Got a problem with the SATs or the ACTs? How about tests that award college credit to high school seniors that have, by test score, demonstrated that they have mastered a particular subject? Are the teachers that teach the advanced AP Calculus course in your local high school just "teaching to the test?"
Mr. Ingle, most college freshman in America could not pass this simple test:
Do You Deserve Your High School Diploma?
Is it wrong to expect that a college freshman in 2006 know who the United States fought in World War 2? Or would asking that question of a high school senior in a standardized test in someway, and as you intimated, "destroy the creativity of the good teachers" that taught him and/or her?
Is it wrong, for example, to tell the general public that Mr. X, your daughter's history teacher, got paid $75,000 last year to teach US History but yet, and at the same time, a majority of Mr. X's students were, by objective test scores, unaware or otherwise unable to tell you that the USSR was actually an ally of the United States during WWII?
Is it wrong, for example, to tell the residents of a particular town that, and despite all the tax dollars they have pumped into a particular school district, that a majority of the graduating high school seniors from that particular district would be unable to pass the civics exam given to those aspiring to become US Citizens?
Do You Have What It Takes To Become A United States Citizen?
Our public schools here in New Jersey have failed us miserably. We, the taxpayers, have every right, in seeking to reform that broken system, to hold both students and teachers alike accountable. Moreover, we have every right to employ standardized tests in determining accountability. No Child Left Behind, while far from perfect, is and was a good first start.
No one is talking about dogs, cats or turnips, Mr. Ingle. Please spare us the hyperbole. Two men marrying is just as much an abomination as is polygamy -- a point that I note you conveniently ignored, the question asked of you above notwithstanding. That said, the arguments made in support of gay civil unions are precisely the same arguments that can and will be made in support of legalized polygamy.
Nor is the rank discrimination that blacks experienced in this country and elsewhere anywhere even remotely close to the burden some gays feel because they may not lawfully marry. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for suggesting or intimating as much. Incidentally, can we expect that you will mention Rosa Parks when the bigamists demand their day in the courts and the Legislatures? Perhaps that young staff of yours can join hands and sing We Shall Overcome in the background while you type and otherwise fancy yourself an advocate of civil rights.
Joan Baez -- "We Shall Overcome"
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