Articles by mgedwards

Am I supposed to be excited?

Having attended the University of Washington and being a proud Husky, I’ve been told I should never root for cross-state rival Washington State University, home of the Cougars.  I don’t begrudge the Cougars when they win at sports, even when they beat the Huskies.  But as a Vandal who attended the University of Idaho, I cannot be so quick to congratulate the cross-state Boise State University Broncos for winning the biggest football game in Idaho State history.  BSU beat Oklahoma 43-42 in the Fiesta Bowl in a game touted by many as one of the greatest bowl games in history.  BSU, the cinderella team, beat the Sooners on a trick play in overtime. 
 
‘Nuff said.  I really should be happy, shouldn’t I?  I didn’t see the game, although I did wonder how it stacks up against last year’s Texas-USC game (waiting for Tortmaster to chime in).  Some of my high school chums attended Boise State.  It brings pride and recognition to a state many people confuse with Iowa (except for Iowans themselves and a few Minnesotans).  So should I be proud of the Broncos and say congratulations?  No, I really can’t, and here’s why:
 
  • Could you seriously root for a team whose school’s initials are B.S. U.?  (Yes, it is an Idaho inside joke.)
  • B.S.U. is an upstart.  Think of all those poor Idaho State Univesity students in Pocatello who get absolutely no respect as regional school, even though it really should be the state’s #2 university.
  • Rumor has it that cow-tipping and beer bonging are undergraduate majors.
  • The Broncos play on blue turf.  That’s fine if you’re a smurf or Timothy Leary.
  • B.S.U. primarily serves the Boise area, making it arguably the largest community college in the nation (no offense to community colleges around the country). 
  • No other colleges sponsor bowl games to make sure their teams get a bowl invite each year and name it after some lofty ideal with lousy marketing potential (Humanitarian Bowl).
  • Boise is not a State.
  • B.S.U. is a short drive to slots, booze, and brothels in Nevada.
  • The Idaho State Legislature forgot that the only reason the state capital is in Boise is because the territorial government in Lewiston gave the capital to Boise and the State University to Moscow.
  • Bronco football proves that a university can sustain itself through athletics when it does not have much to offer academically.

Oh, relax Broncos fans!  You know I love you anyway.

Lest you think…

…that all is hunky dory at home from the rosy imagery painted on this blog, I wanted to point out that it’s been a trying few days with our son.  He hasn’t been feeling well and threw up last night and last Saturday.  He seems perfectly fine until around midnight, when everything he consumed during the day came back up.  Twice.  It was absolutely nasty.  Then tonight, at a restaurant, I sat him next to me and tried to be a good dad.  All of a sudden, for absolutely no reason, he slammed his head into my mouth, cutting my lip and causing the blood to flow.  It still hurts like !@#$, and I now have a nice welt on my mouth.  I suppose you could say that illness made him act up, but during times like these, having a child is not much fun.  I’m sure things will be better in a few days.  For those who wish they had families, be mindful of times like these.  You have to take the good with the bad.

Celebrating the New Year

Last night my wife and I joined another couple for a New Year’s celebration at the Seoul Plaza Hotel located across the street from Seoul City Hall.  We had a wonderful view of the festivities taking place in front of the city hall.  The evening was elegant and fun.  We feasted buffet-style and washed it down with wine.  We also enjoyed some entertainment.  We sat for a caricature artist who sketched comical renderings of our faces.  A magician performed some tricks at our table with coins and cards.  Although we couldn’t figure out how he created these illusions, I joked that it would have been an even bigger feat if he could magically speak English.  We also enjoyed a wonderful a capella quintet that sang a variety of songs in English and Korean, including Roy Orbison’s "Pretty Woman," one of my personal favorites.  At midnight, we rang in the new year with party poppers.  Mine was a dud, so I just clapped in lieu of setting off a noisemaker.
 
Our evening at the Seoul Plaza Hotel wound down about 12:30 a.m.  We then walked across the street and mingled amidst the throngs of partygoers who celebrated on the city hall plaza.  A rowdy group of people, mostly foreigners, gathered around a Korean hip hop-metal banging out unintelligible tunes.  A gaggle of Koreans lit fireworks, setting off noisemakers and Roman candles.  It  was both dangerous and chaotic, so we circled around the plaza to the outdoor ice rink.  Dozens of Koreans etched the ice with their skates.  I could almost hear the rink crying for a Zamboni machine to clean the ice.
 
Last night was the best New Year’s celebration we’ve had since 2002, when we ushered in the new year in Cairo, Egypt at the former royal palace watching Egypt’s most famous belly dancer perform over dinner.  Nights like these are rare.  Our New Year’s celebrations are most often spent at home watching "New Year’s Rockin’ Eve" or some other televised extravaganza.
 
Blog Notes:  I guess that people really do read this blog!  Tonight we had some friends over for dinner.  One friend who often reads World Adventurers noticed in my entry "Five Things You Don’t Know about Me" that I like baked goods, particularly snickerdoodles.  She showed up tonight with a plate full of snickerdoodles in tow and told me that she baked them because she read that I like snickerdoodles!  How about that?  Thank you for the snickerdoodles!  I will thoroughly enjoy them.  In a few days she will probably read this note and laugh at the irony that I’m thanking her on my blog for noticing!
 
So the Seattle Seahawks are back in the National Football League playoffs.  Unfortunately, they had the worst record of all teams in the playoffs, 9-7, and limped into the playoffs this year after a spectacular 13-3 season last year.  No one is holding much hope that they will go far in the playoffs.  They face the 10-6 Dallas Cowboys in Seattle next weekend.  While they beat the Cowboys last year in Seattle, the Cowboys should have won that game.  The ‘Hawks will have to play their best ball to beat the ‘Boys next weekend.  The one silver lining this year–the reigning Superbowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers will be sitting home this playoff season.  After so many obnoxious Steelers fans argued that the outcome of the last year’s Superbowl was fair and decried Seahawks fans as whiners for pointing out questionable officiating calls made during the game, it’s nice to see the Seahawks back in the hunt for a Vince Lombardi trophy this season while Steelers fans sit at home and cry.