The Fall of the Texas Empire

Remarkable.

The Texas Longhorn football program from mid-October of 2004 until mid-September of 2010 was quite simply remarkable. They posted a 68-8 record during that time. They played in back to back Rose Bowls winning both against Michigan and USC. They beat Ohio State in a Fiesta Bowl. They won the National Title in 2005 and lost the National Title game in 2009.

After a loss to Oklahoma in 2004, Texas won their next 20 games. They came down to earth with back to back 10-3 seasons that were followed up with 12-1 and 13-1 seasons. They were 3-0 in 2010 and then the program suddenly crashed and burned.

Texas won only 2 of their remaining 9 games last season resulting in a losing season and no bowl game. The fall of the Longhorn empire looked similiar to a cyclist cracking. His legs push the pedals around, but they have no power left in them. Texas bonked.

What now? Will I look back on these recent teams like Texas fans used to about the teams of the 60's? Will it take 35 years to win another National Title? Gosh, I hope not.

As far as I know, football is not an elective at Texas, so please get rid of the track guys and the other proven losers Mack. I do not want to hear anymore NFL potential crap about players. Prove it to us on the field or please get off of it for goodness sake.

Mack you better wake up and smell the coffee or you'll be wondering what happened to your job like we are wondering what happened to our team this past season. Texas is one of the best programs in the country and should be easy to turn around with all the advantages it has.

Mack, the question is do you have it in you to do what is necessary for the good of the program or not? Time will tell.

Memories of Christmas

The Lionel train that chugged up the trestle tracks on its way to sudden impact with the living room wall when the kid at the controls sped into a turn that couldn't be navigated at high speed...unpurpose.

Hiding under the Christmas tree, buried under the presents on Christmas Eve...

Watching the neighbors 4-color wheel rotate on their artificial tree through our living room window...

Hoping for snow for a white Christmas...

Realizing one Christmas that we didn't have a fireplace and wondering how Santa delivered the toys...

Listening to Christmas albums on the RCA stereo cabinet turn table...

Wrapping Christmas presents after midnight mass...

Driving to Chicago on Christmas Eve to visit my Mom's 2nd cousin who we called Aunt Jeanine and Uncle Frank...

Looking at Sears and Wards catalogues to make our wish list for presents from Santa...

Making a Christmas card holder out of a Reader's Digest magazine...

Playing hockey in our kitchen...

Being told not to bring a toy car to church on Christmas because you could lose it and then, you guessed it, losing it...

Having to wait until after dinner on Christmas night to open presents at one of our grandparents houses...

Sliding down carpeted stairs on our butts as we played guess-which-hand-the-penny-is-in game with our Uncle Conrad...

Driving our mom crazy by turning off all the lights to see the Christmas tree lit up in the dark...

Sitting under the Christmas tree and staring at the patterns of color reflected on the ceiling...

Saving money and depositing it in the bank for Christmas presents...

Not having to go to school the whole week before Christmas and the whole week after Christmas...

Rolling the TV stand into the kitchen so we could watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" during dinner...

Feeling like the air got let out of your tires when you realized Christmas afternoon that it was over, for this year...

Merry Christmas.

4 is the Magic Number

My stepdaughter came up to me and said, "Give me a number." I said, okay, 7. She said 7 is 5, 5 is 4, and 4 is the magic number. Say what?

She said give me another number. I said 10. She said 10 is 3, 3 is 5, 5 is 4, and 4 is the magic number.

My mind took the bait and I was off to the races in problem solving mode.

Numbers. Since I have used math most of my career, my mind was programmed to think in terms of numbers. What was this riddle 4 is the magic number? Do I add the numbers together and then divide by something and then subtract by something else?

Any number I would give her, she would think momentarily and then rattle off a chain of seemingly random numbers that culminated in the phrase "and 4 is the magic number." My brain kicked into overdrive, but I was not able to solve this riddle.

Seeing my dismay, she then gave me an invaluable hint about the riddle. She said that it had nothing to do with math. Say what?

Okay. Back up the truck and dump out the garbage cluttering my mind. Suddenly, the answer to the riddle popped into my head. With math out of the equation, I quickly formulated that if I counted the letters in the word that represents the number, I came up with the answer to the riddle.

For example, the number 7 is spelled s-e-v-e-n. That's 5 letters. The number 5 is spelled f-i-v-e. That's 4 letters... and 4 is the magic number.

Light bulb.

What if people with opposing views could find common ground by figuring out that what they were trying to communicate to one another was not getting through because of the way they were approaching the problem? In other words, what if math had nothing to do with it?

Just look at the way our government approaches problems like out of control spending and you'll see that...

...math definitely has nothing to do with it...