Colorado Report

Odds and ends from a just completed visit to Fort Collins:

1. Construction on I25 north of Denver was completed and it's a 75mph limit all the way into Wyoming. People there tend to do a pretty good job of observing the primal holiness of the passing lane, unlike I35 in Texas where it's amateur hour 24/7.

2. Was invited up by daughter #1 to see her room at the Kappa house (I was loitering in the lobby at the time). Though the "Man on the floor!" announcement was made, two young Kappas failed to heed the message and dear old dad saw more of Kappa than he had expected. Nice girls there.

3. When you visit your kid at college, you're a big hit with your daughter's friends, especially when word spreads that old dad is buying dinner. Also, went to no fewer than six stores on a buying frenzy for "must have" items. For whatever reason, I don't recall needing skis when I was in college.

4. Like the University of Texas, CSU is a land grant university. Unlike UT, however, there was apparently no plan ever contemplated for architectural continuity as the university grew. It's a hodge podge of different styles and a fair amount of them are not pleasing to the eye. Not dull, though.

5. Among other things, college visits seem to degenerate into a considerable amount of binge eating and laying on my ass at the hotel watching HBO, which I don't get at home. Judging by the content of their programming this weekend, HBO seems to be focused on various social justice causes, among them, the gay rights movement. Saw, "Milk" which garnered world class ass wipe Sean Penn an Oscar. It's an okay movie, I guess, and Penn is certainly a fine actor but I'm still trying to figure out what made the movie so compelling. It really didn't move well and quickly became tiresome and a little predictable. In that same vein, caught a documentary that HBO did centering around Washington politics and gay politicians and staff. Essentially, Washington runs on gay staff members who, without wives and kids to go home to, can work crazy hours in support of their congressman. Also, discussed several politicos who have been outed along with some surprises (at least to me) of a few, including Florida Gov. Crist who still denies that he plays for the other team (he had a big show wedding recently). Finally, a BBC documentary on kids who survived that 2004 massacre at a Russian school at the hands of Chechen terrorists. A well done piece of work. Conclusion: Muslim terrorists are scum, kids are resilient, but also there's a whole new batch of Russian kids who've dedicated their lives to growing up and killing Chechens.

6. In 200 words or less explain Texas A&M beating Texas Tech on Saturday. No, let's just move on.

7. Saw Adrian Peterson of the Vikings stand up a safety yesterday, knock him backwards on his ass, and then run right over him for another 20 or so yards on his run. Peterson is a force of nature. I saw him once at Floyd Casey Stadium when he was with Oklahoma and he literally looked like a man among boys out there on the field. Almost the same in the pros.

8. I'm a big baseball fan. But, it's late October and it's football season. Why is the World Series just now starting? I don't care and there's about a billion fans just like me. Our country may savor its relationship with baseball, but its religion is football unless you're part of the give peace a chance crowd who doesn't like the violence of the gridiron. You'd think the brains running both major league baseball and the player's union would pick up on that. No, they haven't. I channel surfed a few weeks ago on a Wednesday and came across a divisional playoff game on TBS at 8:30 or 9pm or so. That should tell you two things: when the playoffs in your sport are on TBS and at a screwy hour, you've got a problem.

9. Watched "Gladiator" for a while last night. Next time you watch it, listen for the responsorial chant by the barbarians prior to battle with Maximus' legion in Germania. Then, go watch "Zulu" and listen to the same prior to the Zulu assault on the 21st Foot at Rorke's Drift. Let me know what you hear.