The Holster

So I read this Dr. Saturday article today. 

I personally thought it was pretty crappy and mean spirited, if not downright deceptive.  You can decide for yourself, I understand I'm biased with my burnt-orange-tinted-blog.

But....Here are some problems I have with the article:

1. Graham Watson's selective use of actual statements:

"'The horns down is disrespectful,' Brown said Monday. 'We ought to talk about that as a league.'"

In all actuality, the entirety of the statement was:

"I think that's something we ought to talk about as a league.  I think the Horns-down are disrespectful to the players on the field.  If Horns-down are OK, we ought to have guns- [sic] down be OK."


"....and also these koozies."

That's some good, fair journalism by Dr. Saturday, if you ask me. 

2.  You can't exactly blame Watson.  Mack's "comments" as quoted in the Dr. Saturday article, as well as EVERYWHERE ON THE INTERNET, which characterize Mack as whiny and cry-babyish, were first seen twatted (can I say twat on the Internets?) by Kirk Bohls of the Austin American Statement (below), where they soon went viral.

3.  Brown was answering a question. In a press conference.  HOW DARE HE?!   Of course, no one is talking about the question he was asked...because then he wouldn't be able to come off as sad and pathetically whiny....Mack was answering a question regarding the  penalty Mike Davis received when, after a touchdown (okay, after two touchdowns), he made the Texas Tech "Guns Up" hand sign, then proceeded to holster those guns.

The point Brown was making, was that the call was a bit inconsistent considering that NO PLAYER IN THE HISTORY OF TIME has been give a penalty for throwing Horns Down in a game.

Not these guys....

Or this coach...

Or this Sooner....

Or Geno Smith...

Not even Greg McElroy

4.  As Watson points out that Bohls points out, "no one complained when Texas wide receiver Mike Davis pretended to holster Texas Tech's two-gun hand gesture during the Longhorns' win over the Red Raiders last weekend."  Well...the refs kind of complained (you know, with the penalty and all) and Mack Brown complained "I still think Mike Davis should act like he's done that before and not talking to the Tech crowd...."  He went on to mention that it was disrespectful, and the game is about winning, "not being cute."

Having people throw Horns down at Texas fans is par for the course.  As I've mentioned in a few posts (like here) (and here) it's not that the Horns down sign makes me really mad, or offends me.  I think it's just so dumb, that I make fun of people making fun of Longhorns by throwing my Horns down right back at them*.  

I know Mack can seem a little crier-ey..."Oooh, rank us high in the polls so we can go to the BCS Rose Bowl" or "boo hoo, I don't like the three-way tie-breaker rules in the Big 12..." and "I'm sad that the LHN has given every team full access to our practices..."  But this is not one of those times.

It's hard to argue with the point Mack Brown is making. Of course, no one is bothering to argue the point because journalists like Graham Watson and Kirk Bohls would rather get twitter & blog traffic by presenting a whiny and sad Coach Brown - one who, as Watson put it, "would like you kids to get off his lawn."



* Okay, we love throwing Horns down back at rival fans.  It's so much fun, mostly because it just confuses the crap out of the offender...often causing anger, which we, in turn, find hysterical. 

Last season at the Texas A&M game (forever scoreboard!!), as the A&M fans were filing out of the stadium, many of them had to cross right in front of our Eyes-of-Texas-singing-celebrating-ecstatic asses.  I understand, this is not great for them.  We can't help where we were sitting (near the band), nor could we help the fact that this particular part of the stadium is prone to a bottleneck, as there's a lot of activity there after a game.  So not only did they have to cross in front of us, but they were stuck there for awhile, having to listen to our celebratory delirium. 

At one point, an Aggie walking by pointedly scowled in my general direction (I was, actually, for once, not being confrontational...this may be one one time I was an innocent) and so I kind of made a face back in his general direction, to convey the sentiment "Um, can I help you?  I was just cheering for my team..."  This slight facial gesture sent him into a rage, cursing at me, flipping me off and throwing a soda in my general direction.  I was very perplexed, because as I mentioned, this time I actually had done nothing to antagonize him.  Still, I was also very delirious and giddy, so I just kind of made a scrunched up face and looked away.

On the car ride home, we were doing a de-briefing of the game, and I mentioned the hostile exchange to Kacie and Debra.  Kacie fessed up right away.  "Yeah, I saw that.  That was my fault.  We were singing and clapping and he threw Horns down at me, so I did this." 

Upon this declaration, she turned around and demonstrated an epic Horns down display:

And that is why I love my sister.

The Beginnings

Last night over a few Happy Hour Miller Lites, my sister Kacie reminded me of something strangely future telling that happened when I was a wee first grader at Newington Forest Elementary School (Home of the Knights). 

It was 1986, better known as: The Year I Learned that I Was Going to Be a Writer.  Well, okay, by writer I mean "this blog on the side of my glamorous career as a commercial property manager".  But whatevs.  You don't become "DFW's Most Valuable Sports Blogger" by being a crappy writer.


Yeah, these guys.

Two significant memory-making-writing-related-things happened while in Mrs. Hammond's first grade class.  The first involved cicadas.  Magicicadas, to be precise.

Say whaa?

In 1986, the Magiciadas, which are cicadas (locusts) that run a 17 year life cycle, emerged in Northern Virginia.  They were everywhere.  It was kind of apocalyptic, walking out to your car and crunching hundreds of these red-eyed beasts under your feet.  Of course, based on the two-week life cycle chart below, I'm guessing were were probably just stepping on cicada shells.  The shells in themselves were disturbing. Little cicada skins, frozen in time. But I digress.



The emergence of the 17 year Magicicadas produced quite the little to do in Fairfax County, VA.  We learned all about them in school, and at the end of their tiny little life cycle, we were tasked to write little articles about what our lives would be like in 17 years when the Magicicadas came back.

Mine was as follows:

In 17 years, I will have a job.

In 17 years, I will be 23.

In 17 years, the cicadas will come.

In 17 years, I will be married.

God Bless Mrs. Hammond.  She must have seen the writing on the wall for me, even at such an early age...."That's very good Beth!  But let's just make one little change!"

In 17 years, I will have a job.

In 17 years, I will be 23.

In 17 years, the cicadas will come.

In 17 years, I will be married - hopefully.

And I'll be damned.  17 years later I had a job, I was 23, and the cicadas came.  And that is all.

It was just a few weeks later and Arbor Day was upon us. Each student at Newington Forest Elementary School - and it turns out, every school in the Fairfax County School District - was given the assignment to design a piece of Arbor Day Art.  It could be a picture or a story, or in my case, a poem.



My little six-year-old-brain popped out the most six-year-old brain poem you could think of:

I Am A Tree

 

I am a tree

My roots are my feet

My branches are my arms

My leaves are my hands.

 

Birds sit on me,

Squirrels live in me,

Blossoms burst on me.

 

But just "Y" can't I walk?
My roots won't come up,

And I can't go anywhere.

AND WHERE IS MY HAIR?!"

Yes, that's right.  I wrote that.  When I was six.

Don't hate.

Turns out it was just so darn cute that I won the Arbor Day contest for not just the 1st grade, but for the entire elementary school...K-6

And I won the prize of all prizes:  A Slurpee. 

Plus the admiration of peers....Well, some of them. They made the announcement one morning, after the Pledge of Allegiance, when my class had already begun our morning journals.  I was thrilled, and immediately scratched out my diary entry, and it ended up looking like this:

Today some kids threw rocks

at our bus.  My poem won the Arber Day

contest!  I am happy I won for the hole

skool.  I am a tree!

During my turn at sharing time, a classmate groaned loudly "I KNEW SHE WOULD TALK ABOUT THAT."  He was clearly irritated by my bragging jealous.

Before you max out on being impressed by my skills, take this in:  I Am A Tree won the Arbor Day contest for all of Fairfax County Schools.   

So here I am in a frilly dress...accepting my awesome award for
being the awesomest writer in Fairfax County.

The public admiration, certificate and tiny tree that I won that day, and every prize since...were nowhere near as cool as that initial Slurpee.

The Coaches Poll

This week I happened across Sports Illustrated's Designated Reads: Sorry, Everybody.  While I'm not sure if the apology was because Holly Anderson assumed Texas was going to lose when she published the tweet, or if she is taking responsibilty for Texas moving up in the Coaches Poll. 

Either way, it gave me a moment of pause.  I used that moment to evaluate the Coaches' Poll Top 25 after Week Eight's Games.

  1. Alabama:  8-0  Reigning BCS Champions Alabama have beaten two ranked teams. (#'s 8 & 11).
  2. Oregon:  8-0   The Ducks have taken down two top 25's (#'s 22 & 23)
  3. Kansas State:  8-0  The Wildcats have taken down three ranked opponents, all in the top 15 (#'s 6, 13 & 14)
  4. Notre Dame:  8-0  The Irish have taken down FOUR ranked teams! (#'s 8, 10, 17 & 18).
   5. LSU:  7-1  The Tigers' only loss was to a ranked (#10) team and they have defeated two ranked opponents (#'s 3 & 18.)
  6. Georgia:  7-1  The bulldogs took down the #2 team, their only win against a ranked team, but their only loss came at the hands of #6. 
  7. Florida State:  7-1  After taking down one ranked team (#10) this season, the Seminoles gave up their one loss to an unranked opponent.
  8. Florida:  7-1   The Gators have taken down three ranked teams (#'s 4, 7 & 23) and their one loss is to #10.
  9. Clemson:  7-1  With only one loss, to a #4 ranked team, the Tigers have no wins against ranked opponenents.
10. Louisville: 8-0  The undefeated Cardinals have yet to play a ranked team.
11. South Carolina: 7-2  The GameCocks' 2 losses were to top ten (#'s 2 & 9) teams. In the W column, they have taken down one ranked team (#5).
12. Oklahoma:  5-2  The Sooners, having plain one game less than most teams so far, have only beaten one ranked team (#15) and their two losses are both to ranked opponents (#'s 15 & 5).
13. Oregon State:  6-1 The Beavers have beaten two ranked teams (#'s 13 & 19), but their only loss is to an unranked opponent)
14. Boise State:  7-1  The Bronco's only loss comes against the only ranked team they have faced (#13)
15. Stanford:  6-2  The Cardinal took down the #2 team, but they've lost twice, once to an unranked team and then to #7
16. Texas A&M: 6-2  The Aggies have beaten one ranked team (#23) and their two losses both come from ranked opponents (#'s 6 & 24)
17. USC: 6-2  The Trojans have not beaten a ranked team.  Their two losses come from their only ranked opponent (#21) and one unranked foe.
18. Mississippi State:  7-1 The Bulldogs have only one loss, to the #1 team - the only ranked team they have played thus far.
19. West Virginia:  5-2  Also one game behind the pack, the Mountaineers have beaten two ranked teams (#'s 11 & 25) and have losses to one unranked opponent and one top five (#4)
20. Texas Tech:  6-2  Tech's Red Raiders have beaten two ranked opponents (#'s 5 & 23) and have only lost to ranked teams (#'s 3 & 17)
21. Nebraska: 6-2  The Cornhuskers have beaten one ranked team (#22) and lost to one ranked (#12) and one unranked opponent.
22. Texas:  6-2  While the Longhorns have not beaten a ranked opponent, both of their losses come at the hands of ranked (#'s 8 & 13) teams.
23. Louisianna Tech: 7-1  These Bulldogs, while they haven't beaten a ranked team, have their only loss at the hands of one (#22)
24. Oklahoma State: 5-2 While the Cowboys have only played seven games, they have beaten one ranked opponent (#24) and lost to one ranked team  (#12) and one unranked. 
25. Rutgers:  7-1  The Scarlet Knights have yet to face off against a ranked opponent.

So there you go...a little peeksie at who has beaten who this season, ranking wise, in the Coaches' Poll.  I think Texas is lucky to be ranked at all, but whatever the reasoning for Holly's Twitter comment, the real joke is that 1) USC is still ranked 17th and 2) USC is still ranked.

The Texas/OU Game 2012: Addendum B

Okay, maybe this sums it up better.

The 2012 Texas/OU Game: Addendum A

Yes, this is much better than any words I could possibly have.

The 2012 Texas/OU Game

The Jokes

Since Saturday is the Red River Shootout (okay, Rivlary if you want to be all PC about it...but it's almost impossible for me to pronounce Red River Rivalry) I thought I would get you all pumped up with a few of my favorite Sooner jokes!

Courtesy of these people...

It was reported that Oklahoma head football coach Bob Stoops will only be dressing twenty players for the Texas game. The rest of the players will have to get dressed by themselves.


Why is it so difficult to solve a murder in Norman, OK? 
All the DNA is the same and there are no dental records.

What's the only sign of intelligent life in Norman? 
Austin: 370 miles

 

A little boy and his mother were walking in a Norman cemetary when they came upon a headstone that read “Here lies an Oklahoma graduate and an honest man.” The little boy asked, “Mommy, why did they bury 2 people in there?”

What do they call a crime ring in Norman?  
A huddle


Did you hear about the Sooner who won a gold medal at the Olympics? 
He liked it so much that he decided to get it bronzed.

 

An Sooner ordered a pizza and the clerk asked if he should cut it in six or twelve pieces.
"Six, please. I could never eat twelve pieces." 

 

How do you get an ou grad off your front porch?

Pay for the pizza!


How do you know the toothbrush was invented in Oklahoma?
If it was invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teethbrush.

 Why couldn't the baby Jesus be born in Oklahoma?
Because they couldn't find 3 wise men or a virgin.

 

Why do they sell so many button-fly jeans in Oklahoma?
Because the sheep can hear the zippers a mile away.

 How do they separate the men from the boys at Oklahoma?
With a restraining order. 


What's the first thing an Oklahoma girl does when she wakes up in the morning? She walks home 


Two University of Oklahoma fans were walking down the street when they came upon a dog lying on the sidewalk licking and cleaning his groin like dogs do.  The first Oklahoma fan says to the second, "Boy, I wish I could do that."  The second Oklahoma fan replies, "Yeah, me too. But I wouldn't try it."  The first Oklahoma fan asks, "Why not?"  The second Oklahoma fan replies, "Because I'm afraid the dog might bite me."

 
General Schwarzkopf was walking through the desert during the Gulf War when he found a lamp on the ground. He picked it up, rubbed, and out came a genie. The genie said to the General, "I will grant you one wish."  The General replied, "I wish that we will win this war. Here is a map of the desert and all the war parties. Please make us win the war."  The genie responded, "I'm not that powerful of a genie. I cannot grant you that wish."  "Well," the General responds, "then can you have Oklahoma win a bowl game this year?"  The genie thinks for a moment, then says, "Let me see that map again."

The House of Pain

Well, there's not a lot to say about the Texas/WVU game last Saturday.  It was a heart breaker, but I walked away from it thinking it was an awesome game.  Do I wish we had won?  Of course. 

What was great about the game, is that the crowd was totally into it!  Yes, we are often a lackluster crowd.  But after comments about the crowd not being very into the games from "Big Hits" Kenny Vaccaro went viral, the Longhorns brought it.  It's been four days and my voice is still not right.  Students and Alumni alike were on their feet, screaming and loud as heck. 

Of course, by now, everyone in the world has heard that midway through the second quarter, Jeffcoat recovered a fumble for a touchdown.  While the play was under review, guy-in-booth scrolls through his iPod and queues up the most riot inducing song he can find:

Jump Around by House of Pain. 

And riot we did. 

Despite the reputation we have at DKR for maybe not being the most intimidating environment, I've seen some incredible games where the crowd was balls out.  Missouri in 2008, Oklahoma State in 2004 to name a few.

But I've never seen anything quite like what happened when "Jump Around" came on in DKR Saturday night.  It was almost instantaneous.  That first little House of Pain scream sent 60,000 of the 101,000 in the stadium to to their feet in an instant.  The team went nuts on the field, and the rest of the crowd followed suit.

Even this guy.

Riding home after the game, we discussed 1) the awesomeness of that moment and 2) our relief over the fact that while it would be amazing to see 101,000 people doing "The Cupid Shuffle*" in the stands at DKR, "Jump Around" has much less complicated choreography.

But my favorite thing about that three minutes? 

My sister and I were one of the 60K jumping within seconds.  As the players and the rest of the crowd caught on, my Dad started eyeballing the situation.  He noted there was a very fast and specific reaction to the song, and found himself perplexed and maybe a little bit out of the loop.

He turned to me and asked very seriously "Did I miss something?"

Oh, Augie Father...how I love you.




* By the way, I'm a complete sucker for "The Cupid Shuffle."  I irrationally love it, and go out of my way to dance to it every time it comes on at any Mav's game, bowling alley, St. Patrick's Day parade, wedding, bar, gas station...whatever.  It instantly energizes a room the way the "Electric Slide" and "The Macarena**" used to.  A close second is the "Cha Cha Slide," though it's a bit more complicated and much harder on a torn ACL.  Both have excellent YouTube tutorials if you want to thrill the crowd at your next DJ'd event.

** Auto correct really wants this to be Mac Arena.  What is that?!

The Open Letter: Addendum A

Dear Showband of the Southwest,

I’m a big fan of you, SBOTSW.  Can I call you SBOTSW? 

I’ve written blogs about you on numerous occasions, praising your general badassery and clear superiority over other college bands.  I’m a huge fan, and think you’re awesome.  Pizza awesome. 

Unfortunately, certain behavior over the last two years has been causing me increasing frustration and confusion.  And I’m not the only one.  Unfortunately, for both of us, the time has come, and something must be said.

And yes, SBOTSW, it is unfortunate for both of us.  Because now I gotta be the asshole that has to complain about one of the awesomest bands around.

So, tonight, on the eve of the Texas/WVU game, I make a plea:

Please, please…I beg of you.  Stop playing “The Eyes of Texas” and “Texas Fight” variations inappropriately at Longhorn football games.   

I’m not sure when or why it became okay to play the booming first nine notes of “The Eyes of Texas” after a second down stop.  As far back as I can remember that taunting tune has been reserved for big stops, most commonly after a big hold on third down.   AFTER.   Why suddenly are we playing it after every other defensive play?  Not appropriate.

I’ve held my tongue over the last few years as the sacred taunting “Eyes” started getting more airtime than “Call Me Maybe.”   I tried to rationalize it.  “Is it because they’re about to play a third down…?”  

If you must reduce the awesomeness of the taunting “Eyes,” then I guess I’ll just deal with it and shut up already.  It’s a shame, and it will make me sad, because I can remember I used to get goosebumps when it was played – it meant something really badass (stopped third down, blocked field goal, etc) just went down.

"THAT WAS ONLY THE 2ND DOWN!!"

But what I heard at the Oklahoma State game last Sunday was the final straw.  When the last second ran out and the sidelines cleared to the field for handshakes and hugs, you played “Texas Fight.”  This in itself is not a crime – but do you know what is a crime?

YOU PLAYED IT LAZY.

I was shocked.  Were we watching the same game?  In the game I was watching, Texas won by five points with the go ahead score landing in the final 30 seconds.  Were you at a different game?  Perhaps one where we were winning by 30 points? 

I cringed when I heard that.  I was embarrassed.  It wasn’t ok.

It’s kind of like when the Oklahoma State fans started shaking their keys at the beginning of the fourth quarter… after achieving their first lead since two minutes into the game.  And a whopping lead, at that.   Of…five?

Inappropriate.   It’s not the first time in recent history I’ve flinched when you played it lazy, but it was the most cringe worthy.  Bad enough to make me say something.

There was a time when Mack Brown led Texas to two BCS Title Games, taking home the crystal football in one.  Of those 12 seasons, three had nine wins, three had 10 wins, three had 11 wins, one had 12 wins and two had 13.  From 1998 to 2009, we were often tearing our opponents up by 40+ points.   I’m okay with a little lazy “Texas Fight” with that kind of win.

I’m hoping that maybe all of the personnel and a lot of you SBOTSWs are young and/or new – maybe you don’t remember or weren’t here before the mess that was 2010.

Whatever the case, I’m begging you SBOTSW, pleading with you.  I’d like to bring back the sanctity of the taunting “Eyes,” but please, please stop playing “Texas Fight” lazy unless it’s appropriate. 

It’s a weapon that, when used wrong, reinforces the stereotypes that Texas fans are arrogant and entitled.   

I don’t mind a little swagger.  But let’s make sure we’ve earned it.

Hook ‘Em,

Beth

 

    

 

The Fifth Week

A Whole Big Nation of Week Five

Most Enjoyable

The TCU at SMU game was played despite a pretty crazy rainstorm.  As the commentators … uh, commentated … on how the weather would affect the players and the game, there was a time frame of about 90 seconds of repeated talk about “wet balls”  including “on Thursdays, TCU handles wet balls exclusively”  followed by an abrupt silence.  I’m not trying to sound immature here, but it was unintentional and awkward comedy at its finest.

Least Enjoyable

TCU won that game.

 Point of Interest

Through week five, the Big 12 is putting up some impressive statistics on Offense and Scoring Offense.  West Virginia and the passing robot Geno Smith are getting the most press, but the top scoring rankings are dominated by Big 12 Teams: 

TOTAL OFFENSE

Rank	Name	Games	Plays	Yds	Avg	TDs	Ydspgm	Wins	Losses	Ties
1	Oklahoma St.	4	334	2636	7.89	29	659.00	2	2	0
2	Baylor	4	327	2406	7.36	29	601.50	3	1	0
3	West Virginia	4	304	2394	7.88	30	598.50	4	0	0
8	Texas Tech	4	327	2188	6.69	22	547.00	4	0	0
23	Texas	4	294	1983	6.74	26	495.75	4	0	0
25	Oklahoma	3	217	1475	6.80	15	491.67	2	1	0

 SCORING OFFENSE

Rank	Name	Games	Points	Avg	TDs	Kxp	Oxp	Dkxp	Doxp	FG	Sf	Wins	Losses	Ties
1	Oklahoma St.	4	223	55.75	29	28	0	0	0	7	0	2	2	0
2	Baylor	4	217	54.25	29	28	0	0	0	5	0	3	1	0
3	West Virginia	4	212	53.00	30	29	0	0	0	1	0	4	0	0
9	Texas	4	189	47.25	26	24	0	0	0	3	0	4	0	0
11	Texas Tech	4	175	43.75	22	22	0	0	0	7	0	4	0	0
19	Kansas St.	4	162	40.50	21	21	0	0	0	5	0	4	0	0
28	Oklahoma	3	112	37.33	15	13	0	0	0	3	0	2	1	0

 Putting On Big Boy Pants

In keeping, with my week of statistics, the Big 12 is looking like big boys on the offensive side not only as teams, but individuals.  Seven of the nation’s most efficient passers crack the top 25…

Passing Efficiency - Individual

Rank	Player	Pos	Cl	Gm	Patt	Pcomp	Comppct	Int	Intpct	Pyds	Ydspatt	TDs	TDpct	Rating
1	Geno Smith, West Virginia	QB	SR	4	169	141	83.43	0	.00	1728	10.22	20	11.83	208.37
2	David Ash, Texas	QB	SO	4	109	85	77.98	1	.92	1007	9.24	10	9.17	184.03
4	J.W. Walsh, Oklahoma St.	QB	SO	4	78	52	66.67	2	2.56	797	10.22	8	10.26	181.22
5	Casey Pachall, TCU	QB	JR	4	97	64	65.98	1	1.03	948	9.77	10	10.31	180.03
9	Nick Florence, Baylor	QB	SR	4	157	100	63.69	5	3.18	1585	10.10	16	10.19	175.76
13	Seth Doege, Texas Tech	QB	SR	4	147	105	71.43	3	2.04	1189	8.09	15	10.20	168.96
17	Collin Klein, Kansas St.	QB	SR	4	80	56	70.00	2	2.50	758	9.48	5	6.25	165.22

40 Acres of Week Five

Who’s a Big Boy?

Well, I’m not really sure.  I’d like to say Mike Gundy, but really, “HE’S A MAN!  HE’S 45!”  The fiasco that was Bergeron’s touchdown in the last minute of the game left the Cowboys angry.  Gundy, in the tradition of Bo Pelini  wonders why the referees haven’t made a personal appearance to explain calls to him:

“Gundy said he didn't get an explanation of the ruling on the play, although he admitted he hadn't sought one out on his own. He said he ''can't imagine that they wouldn't'' contact him to discuss the play further.”

Run DJ, Run!

DJ Monroe's 100-yard kick return for a touchdown in the 1st quarter marked the 4th 100 yard kick return TD in school history, and the third of DJ's career.  We should just do that every time.  Except this week, since that means we’d be giving the ball back to the killer WVU passing team.

Happy the Man That Catches the Ball

Two words: Jaxon Shipley

I’d Trade Magic Beans For…

Hugs.  And by hugs I mean our guys wrapping up and executing tackles, all the time, all the time.

“We had 12 missed tackles on seven plays (against Oklahoma State). Three missed tackles equaled 109 yards,’’ said Head Coach Mack Brown.  “We’ll give up 70 (points) this weekend if we don’t tackle better than we did (last week).’’

Uh, yeah, we know.  So let’s…just….not.