Friday, March 31, 2006

Crab Cakes 2

Couldn't you find the crab cakes recipe? It's Friday and I have some from the internet but I really wanted to follow your instructions. Love, Crabby

Thursday, March 30, 2006

I'm really excited about Kelvin Sampson now

I think Kelvin Sampson is a good choice for Indiana. I understand why some folks aren't very excited about his hiring, but I'm quite happy about it.

First, one of the main things I wanted Indiana to do was minimize risk with this hire. There were a lot of mid-major coaches out there who look like they might be the Next Big Thing, but it's really hard to predict that. They could just as easily be the Next Dan Monson. While I wouldn't have been disappointed by hiring a young gun, I was hoping we'd find someone who was more of a proven commodity.

On the other hand, outside of Majerus I really didn't like the idea of hiring a "transition coach". Proven commodities are great, but if they're 60 years old, then everyone knows they're just coming in to right the ship and then (probably) promote an assistant. Yech.

Finding a proven commodity who a) isn't too old, b) has had significant success in a major conference, c) isn't ridiculously expensive, and d) would prefer Indiana over their current job is not an easy task.

And I had no interest whatsoever in keeping it within the "Indiana family".

To me, there were 2 candidates that fit the profile - Sampson and Barnes. Montgomery was close as well (a little too old but fit every other criteria). Of the two, I like Sampson more than Barnes.

Part of that is just selfishness. As a fan, there are a couple things that drive me completely crazy. The first is I hate to watch my team lose because the other team plays harder than we do. The other thing I can't stand is watching teams that try to win by outscoring the other team. I've tried to watch Wake Forest for years now, and I just can't get into it because there's just no emphasis on defense at all. This is also why guys like Few and Beilein didn't get me all that excited - neither have proven they can field teams that play great defense. I know lots of fans love to watch those 95-88 type games. Not me.

Obviously, the two things that define Oklahoma under Sampson were effort and defense. Those are not the things that define Texas under Barnes.

Don't get me wrong, I long to see a more attractive offense than we've seen under Davis recently. I don't know if Sampson is the guy to give us that. But I don't want to see that at the expense of good defense.

The other thing I like about Sampson is how involved he is in the coaching organizations. That's exactly the type of thing I expect from an Indiana basketball coach. He's a guy who is respected by coaches nationwide, who is entrenched in the coaching fraternity. He's a leader, even among high-profile coaches. And nearly everything I've heard about Sampson indicates that he's a good man - a man of integrity who works hard and demands excellence from his players on the court.

Obviously there's the two question marks - the NCAA violations and the graduation rates. For me, those are just table stakes. Running a completely clean program with real student-athletes is not even worthy of comment - it's expected. But the thing is - Indiana is different than Oklahoma. I think Sampson understands the expectations here and we won't have any issues. It bugs me that it even needs to be a discussion, but until he has an issue at Indiana, I'm not going to worry about it. If there are violations, fire him (and Greenspan). If players don't graduate, fire him (and Greenspan). I doubt either is an issue here though.

So basically Indiana got a proven major conference coach whose teams are defined by defense and toughness and who could easily coach at Indiana for another 15+ years. That's a really good thing, IMO.

On a side note, I was really impressed by Herbert yesterday. Dang, he didn't duck any of the tough questions - he didn't even wait for them to get asked. And I loved the bitchslapping he gave Ted Kitchell, who desparately needed it. I thought Greenspan and Sampson both looked tired and spent.

Bottom line - I think I'm going to enjoy watching Indiana play under Sampson, including the amount of wins, the style of play, and the type of kids he'll bring in. While I don't like the baggage, I think the good far outweighs the bad, and I'm going to give Coach Sampson a blank slate at Indiana and expect him to run the Indiana program in the manner we require. If there comes a time when that trust is shown to be misplaced, I'll get in a snoot about it. But not until then.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Carolyn wins this year's tourney pool

None of us can get anymore points -- right down the line, if you look at who we all picked in the title game, those teams are all eliminated. Amazing. I was THIS close to picking George Mason to go to the Final Four. =)

So Carolyn is the winner and is entitled to a year of lording it over the rest of us. And I came in 2nd, which means I get to lord it over everyone except Carolyn.

Jsoephine Mary

What do you think of Josie's pictures? I love the red faced crying one (It's my screen saver) and the over mom's back view. I told Maxine that she better get used to her granddaughter being second best. Elizabeth has gained 60 pounds! Maxine calls her her little puff ball. Liz has been having trouble with water retension but 60 pounds of water? She is due this week.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

crab cakes

Butch wants me to make crab cakes next Friday. He reminded me that you (Karen) make the best crab cakes and also suggested I ask you for the recipe. So here goes... Will you send me your recipe for your world renowned crab cakes? Now remember, if there are any twists and turns to the recipe that are not noted in black and white, you are honor-bound to give me the hints cause you are my daughter-in-law and you are a nice person. I tried to make crab cakes once and they were not very good so take pity on me.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

standings

How will Terry and Karen keep track of their standing in the tournament game while they are on vacation?

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Upsets I wanted to pick

So I did pick a few upsets in the tournament, but here's a few of the upsets I wanted to pick -- but I didn't quite have the guts to pull the trigger.

Oral Roberts (16) over Memphis (1) - No 16 seed has ever beaten a 1 seed, but if it's ever gonna happen, this is the time. Oral Roberts is a really good 16 seed and Memphis is really young, has no tournament experience, and has played a really soft schedule for the last 3 months.

LSU (4) over Duke (1) - I really wanted to pick Duke to lose in the Sweet Sixteen.

Seton Hall (10) over Tennessee (2) - Every year a double-digit seed makes the Sweet Sixteen, and I don't think Tennessee is that good. They're overseeded and the SEC was really mediocre this season. But I couldn't quite pick Pearl to get upset in the second round.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee (11) over Oklahoma (6) - Oklahoma made a living out of beating some average Big12 teams by one point. On the one hand, it's impressive to win so many close games. On the other hand, it's more impressive when you're not the favorite in all those games.

On the bright side, I wanted to make sure I didn't pick Duke or Connecticut to win the national title. I succeeded on that one.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

NCAA Tournament Contest

Okay, it's time for our 1st Annual Blogzeffer NCAA Tournament Pick'Em Contest. I created a private group on Yahoo to make our picks.

Here's a link to our group:
http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/men/group/45066

You'll probably need to sign up for a Yahoo ID - it's fast and free.

Here's the other info you need:
Group ID# 45066
Group Name Blogzeffer
Group Password terryrulz

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

ringtones

I need some education. This morning's paper had an article about "Sopranos" ringtones. I went to the site cited, www.hbo.com/sopranos/mobile, and checked them out. They are sooo cool! I want one and I'll bet dad would like one too. The article says they are designed to run on Cingular products. We have Cingular phones so that's good but I don't have the first idea how to get the ringtone on my phone. Do I download it to my computer, how do I get it to my phone. Do I download it directly to my phone? How? Can you tell me how to do it? Did you have fun in Las Vegas. I hope you did not lose Karen's money. How do you like having a typhoon in the family? Chris's C-section is scheduled for March 20. I don't know how she can last that long. Her stomach is gigantic! She doesn't even have her bag packed or the baby room ready. I guess she is more relaxed that I am. That's very easy though, cause I'm pretty wound up about this impending birth. Nick is very worried about losing Chris and Dave's undivided love. His stomach is bothering him, especially before he need to go to school. Chris announced that she is naming her Josephine Mary at her shower last week. That might be the last word but you need to confirm that with her. Love Grandma