And now, a quick word about WordArt:

All I can say is that Indianapolis had damn well better win the Super Bowl this year - throwing away a perfect season must pay off this year, or I think we can finally put to rest this idea that Tony Dungy was a genius.  Great man, yes.  Great football coach - probably.  But one Super Bowl ring while subscribing to this "big picture" philosophy - if you clinch early, rest the starters in preparation for a playoff run - when, really, the Colts should have had at least two and probably more championships in that span is an indictment of that philosophy. 

It's common knowledge now that the year of the Super Bowl win was the year the starters played all the way through the final week of the regular season because nothing certain outside of a playoff berth was clinched.  I can't think it's coincidence.

And there was a tiny part of me this afternoon secretly hoping that Peyton Manning would just tweak a knee or something on some loose turf while watching Curtis Painter play.  Ultimately nothing significant, just a little sprain, but still a complete freak accident - and an entirely just one if you're going to just piss away a run at history.

I mean, how often do you get the opportunity to go 19-0?  Something that no one in the history of the NFL has EVER done?  "Perfection is not the goal," the Colts' braintrust says. "The ring is the goal."

Really?  All well and good, but

(Editor's note: Effective immediately, the dark overlords/proprietors of Bramble Tamble are pulling Brandon G. from this blog for the remainder of the year. He's accomplished all that he's going to accomplish with this blog in 2009, and we'd rather not risk an injury to the person who, quite frankly, makes this blog go.  We're thinking "big picture" here, and with a new year in front of us, we'd much rather have him fresh for a great run at Blog of the Year in 2010.  And he can't do that with a brain sprain or carpal tunnel.  In his stead, we're proud to offer My Son Cool's teacher.)

How about those Colts today!  I thought that they would come out refreshed and beat the Jets!!!  But they didn't!!.  Opps!

I hope that my students are enjoying their Crhistmas vaction!!!

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An open letter to the University of Florida's athletic director:

Dear Florida AD Jeremy Foley:

I know that you have a wish list of names to whom you would like to offer your school's football head coaching position now that it appears you're in the market for one. The usual names are popping up all over the interwebs - Stoops, Petrino, Mullen, Whittingham, Shanahan. And while any of those could no doubt continue the success that Urban Meyer achieved in his short time at your institution, both you and I know that you've never followed the conventional wisdom; it was that very departure from conventional wisdom that brought Meyer to Gainesville from Utah a few years back.

With that said, may I present to you a name that has not even been whispered, a name that would turn the rumor mill completely on its side and destroy any credibility that those who are supposedly "in the know" might wield.

Please offer Indiana's Bill Lynch the position of UF's head coach.

I know, you're saying "Who?" Believe me, we were saying it too after the unfortunate series of events that led to his hire as Indiana's head football coach. And now every Hoosier fan worth his foam finger knows Lynch's name.

Bill Lynch brings many fine attributes to the table. He has shown the ability to coach both in Muncie and Bloomington, so you know from the get-go that you're getting a man who is flexible. That adaptability was no more evident than this season, in which he coached the Hoosiers to several fantastic first-half victories - did you see the first-half whipping they laid on Northwestern? - and modified his team's strategy accordingly in the second half. What a phenomenal coach!

In Bill Lynch, you'll be getting a man who exudes passion and enthusiasm for the game of football. Did you see the passion and enthusiasm with which he threw that piece of gum after that admittedly-bogus "interception" call at Michigan this sason? I thought, "Wow. Here is a grown man who is showing his passion and enthusiasm for the game in front of 100,000 enemy fans." Just think of the zest he will exude in front of similarly-sized home crowds. Florida fans will LOVE him.

Lastly, if you're concerned that such a radical change will lead to mediocrity in what even I, as a Big Ten fan, admit is the toughest football conference in the country, rest assured that Bill Lynch will maintain the same level of excellence at your university - just as he has at Indiana. Statistics don't lie! There has been NO appreciable change in performance in his tenure at Indiana from that of his predecessors. In fact, he performed above expectations his first year as coach of the Hoosiers!

In closing, Mr. Foley, I think it's obvious that Bill Lynch is the perfect man for the job. And I think that no less an authority than the SEC coaching fraternity would agree. It's rare that you would get those men to agree on lunch, and they would be unanimous in their support for the hire of Lynch as your school's next head football coach.

Thank you for your time. Please, make the call to Bill Lynch. PLEASE. For the love of all that is good and holy.

Please.

Sincerely,
--Brandon G.
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Merry Christmas!

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Keep Crhist in Crhistmas!

My Son Cool's teacher puts out a newsletter every week, using a flurry of exclamation marks and poor grammar to keep parents and guardians abreast of the latest goings-on in her class.

By including the above-pictured note in her most recent newsletter, she has apparently snubbed her nose at the ACLU and those who would wish to keep Crhist out of schools and delete Crhist from Crhistmas. My Son Cool's teacher is pretty ballsy in that regard. I urge everyone to join her in helping ensure that we remember the true meaning of the season: the birth of Crhist.

(Or, should I say, "the birth of Crhist!" Because I counted, and there are 31 exclamation points in this week's newsletter.*)

* - I read somewhere that the level of your mental illness is directly proportional to the number of exclamation points you use. I'm starting to believe this is true, because I swear, I think the cheese has fully slid off her cracker. Merry Crhistmas, all.

PS - she also used the misspelled "Opps" in the newsletter to acknowledge a mistake in last week's newsletter. Crhist. That's one of the classic grammatical irritants.

Also, she used 4 periods in the course of this week's newsletter (again, compare to 31 exclamation points). Included was this dandy: "Practice zipping, snapping and buttoning coats!!. "

(Opps!)
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Cut and dried.

Love the episode description.
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Wife and I went to see "The Blind Side" at the theater the other evening, and I ran into one of my best friends from high school there.  He and his family were just coming out of the earlier showing of the same movie, and he commented that the film made his eyes moist in a couple of spots.

I had to agree with him after seeing it.  Of course, I cried because there was too much Tim McGraw in it.

Just a test.

Update:  OK, it appears comments are now enabled once again.  Just can't comment on old posts?  I suppose not.