* As of today, the only SEC team to win its bowl game while allowing fewer than 28 points…is Vanderbilt. If there were any question that this is a down year for the SEC, it is unavoidable. Look at Florida – overranked and overrated all year, woefully unprepared, and beaten down by an unbanked Louisville with their old defensive coordinator at the helm in the biggest Vegas upset in BCS history.
* Vanderbilt could have had Charlie Strong in 2002…but they took Bobby Johnson instead. It’s not inconceivable that we could have started our renaissance a decade earlier than we did. I certainly hope the fact that Strong is a black head coach wasn’t a factor then, nor the fact of his having a white wife – but I guarantee you it cost jobs elsewhere.
* The holidays have been about British accents. I am completely caught up on The Hour and on Downton Abbey, just in time for series 3 of the latter. Gripping, addictive stuff. And having seen The Hobbit last year (ha!) I have bought and embarked on The Lord of the Rings trilogy again, which will no doubt bore the rest of the house to tears.
* It’s been a full couple of weeks, if lazy down the stretch. I’ve been to two Warriors games (Golden State and Santa Cruz alike), watched Vanderbilt’s bowl win and heard the Skins beat Dallas to make the playoffs, read and relaxed at Riptide like I’ve wanted and needed to for ages, finally got caught up on my back issues of the Economist, and I still have a football ridearound and relaxing evening down the pub yet to come. Two full weeks off – I haven’t gotten this kind of protracted vacation since I changed jobs, nor needed it so much.
* I’m sure regular readers (if any) will be shocked, SHOCKED that I wound up getting the Levi’s-Filson collaboration for Christmas – the classic trucker jacket in black “tin cloth”, a nice heavy waxed cotton. It was bought for me in XXL, rather than the XL I had originally thought appropriate (or the L which I tried on and found a bit snug). And honestly, it’s dead solid perfect. Not as heavy as the peacoat, goes over a light sweatshirt, easy to take the backpack on and off when work returns, and ticks all kinds of fashion boxes: made in America, classic workwear, can go from rockabilly to cyberpunk with only a change of shades, classy yet casual, modern and timeless, and will also probably last the rest of my life. Don’t know if it will become the same signature piece as previous jackets, but it’s two others set aside and free space in the closet for the trouble.
* Three in the afternoon is like 9 at night: not late enough to call it, but too late to really start anything new. I guess I should work on laundry or something.