Frozen

Well, today I don't think the temperature got above 12 all day. It's not a good thing when you're sick of winter and it's still only the middle of January. There's a long way to go. I found myself watching the made-for-tv movie "The 60s" tonight. It's one of those where the main characters just happen to find themselves at every significant event that happened during the decade. I do wonder how my life would've turned out if I was a part of that decade. Would I have been active in the passive protests or would I have gone to Vietnam? Now that I've read books and seen movies about it, I don't think Vietnam should've ever happened, but would I have felt that at the time, especially since I'm Republican. My parents lived a normal life during that time I suppose, going to school, not actively protesting or being called to duty; would that have been the same for me? One could compare the current situation in Iraq, but to me they are different. Directly, Vietnam had done nothing against us, we were afraid of any form of communism spreading. However, Iraq, and I know this is an arguable point, did have a hand in the 9/11 attacks. Victory is possible I think in Iraq, and with elections coming up, that will help settle things down in the country. The biggest mistake in Iraq was moving too quickly and declaring the end to all combat too soon, but there was pressure to have a swift victory. So those same people are now complaining about what's going on even though they were the ones that had to be pleased with the swift victory. I guess you can't please everyone, which is exactly why I'm not cut out for politics.

Now for tonight's sports roundup:

• In the college game of the night, it was Texas taking care of their home court, defeating Oklahoma St. 75-61. Daniel Gibson was stellar throughout, carrying the Texas offense. P.J. Tucker helped out in the second half, which was when he scored all of his points after being in foul trouble in the first half. The game was much closer than what the final score indicates. Texas played a solid game, hanging with the Cowboys on the boards and being pretty efficient offensively. OSU was hurt by foul trouble and inconsistent offense, particularly when Texas went to their 2-3 zone. The 2 games OSU have lost (the other being Gonzaga), have been to teams that play the 2-3 zone. In addition, when OSU gets into foul trouble like they do tonight, their lack of depth hurts them. Texas may be in for some bad news in the morning. Tucker could be ruled academically ineligible for the rest of the season as soon as tomorrow which would be a huge blow to Texas. The Big 12 is looking at currently 7 teams getting in to the NCAA Tournament, with Missouri on the bubble as #8, which would be unprecedented.
• Now for some quick hitters, yesterday Vermont knocked off Boston U. to take sole possession of 1st in the America East conference. Vermont has two very good players in T.J. Sorenstine and Taylor Coppenrath. They gave Kansas all they could handle early in the season. They are experienced and are right now looking at a 12 or 13 seed which would give them a legitimate shot at a first-round upset.
• The Atlantic 10 will get no more than 2 teams into the NCAAs. Right now, they would be George Washington and Temple, if Temple can do well in the A10 season and improve their record because their RPI is strong.
• A team to look out for is Wichita St. Currently one game behind the Salukis, they get their shot at them this weekend. The Missouri Valley Conference deserves 2 bids.
• The surprise of the evening was seeing that Auburn defensive coordinator Gene Chizik is heading to Texas to be the Longhorns' defensive coordinator. This is a good get for Texas in their desperate need to finally beat Oklahoma.
• Marcus Vick is eligible for Virginia Tech for the upcoming season. Let's see how long he stays eligible. This has to be his absolute last chance. Personally, I think he's had one too many already.
• My 2 Australian Open favorites, Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova are through to the 2nd round safely, which will keep me watching.

And finally, the Bachelorette, Jen, narrowed the field to 8, which includes Fabrice the smooth-talking Frenchmen, but doesn't include stalker Stu, who seems to have read Jen's diary because he knows EVERYTHING about her. Knowing everything isn't good, and giving too many gifts and too much flattery isn't the way to a girl's heart either. You need a combination of those two things, with some normalcy. Show the girl you can be there for the big and small occasions and that you can give her some space when she needs it. The key word: BALANCE

Songs of the night: "Takin Care of Business", and "Nowhere to Run" by Martha and the Vandellas. Gotta love that Motown sound.