FOOTBALL AND OTHER GOODIES

Still repeating my I Love Oregon mantra and praying that wherever this monster hits
land it's at the point with the least population. I'm not sure about the elevations in that
part of the country but it's not like Oregon. We don't have to go very far to get some
elevation. And to get hit with three in a row, unbelievable.

We played host to a fairly disgruntled nephew yesterday. Jon is a redshirt
freshman being groomed for offensive lineman. The U of O lost Saturday. :(
They gained about four yards to the Hoosiers one but couldn't hang on to the
thrice-blasted ball. This is a problem the Ducks go through every few
seasons. It is a fairly young team. When we asked Jon if he thought they'd be
working on ball handling extra hard this week he replied that ball control was what
they worked on first thing every day. Although that's not going to be a focus for him
unless one happens to get dropped and bounce his way. His job will be to take the
player in front of him down and keep him there. Should make for interesting memories
to look back on. Landing on someone or being landed on over and over and over and over.......

On a lighter note, we watched part of the OSU game Friday night. Boise
States' infield turf is the same color as the uniforms. Yes, boys and girls,
the MOVING blue dots are the players. Especially the moving blue dots that
made life miserable for the Beavers. This was not a good weekend for Oregon football.
The blue that doesn't move is the field. It takes a little getting used to. I'm not sure how
I'd react to say, Stanford doing this. Can you imagine a cardinal red football field?

We also were a pit stop and park and ride for another nephew and his buddies. When Chris
bought his tickets that game wasn't going to be televised. The first question through the door
was "when did they change the time?" I guess they didn't really publicize the change. We only
knew because 1) Jon's on the team and 2) our favorite news channel also carries the games.
What the heck it was good to see him however briefly. The cats didn't know what to make of
ten extra feet suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

I'll tell you what's really taking some getting used to. Two of the five nephews can still be hugged
around the neck and number four is shooting up fast.This keeps up and we're going to need to
hire a hall for the holidays.