it's not every day you turn 59.

the vandy football team took it to wake forest yesterday to become eligible for a bowl not titled "quiz". [arguably, both vandy and wake are more likely participants in a bowl titled "quiz" - both being superior academic institutions. similarities continue as both employ the colours black & gold and both sport pasty colonial-clad male mascots.] although vandy couldashouldawoulda beat a number of SEC foes this year including georgia, arkansas, florida, and tennessee -- wins which would have put bowl eligibility in the 'decided' column long before the final game -- and although there are altogether far too many bowl games -- diluting the qualification for any one of them -- despite all that, it is nice to qualify. even if half the teams qualify these days, that does mean that half do not, and vandy's generally on the unqualifying half. so, good on ya, vandy!

the titans followed suit, prevailing over tampa bay today in a hard-fought muddy contest that saw five buc and four titan turnovers. [the slipperiness of the ball sparked a fireplaceside discussion as to the physics of warm-air-filled footballs on cooling days, the effects of rain and lowering barometric pressure on the surfaces of new footballs. we came to no conclusions, there beside the unfired-up fireplace.] a particular high point came not far into the first quarter after the bucs scored a field goal -- on the resulting kickoff return tommie campbell took the ball on a reverse from marc mariani and followed with a 84-yard run back for a TD. that was entertaining, and seeing as how NFL is really all come down to entertainment these days, and seeing as how those boys have all day long all week long to practice, they should really be able to conjure at least one reverse, flea-flicker, statue of liberty, fake punt, or other thuswise trickeration at a minimum of one time per game. sadly, within two plays, campbell was sidelined with a shoulder injury. [i would tell you how he's doing but my attempts to gain entry to the titans website have been soundly thwarted. i have no idea what starbux might have against the titans. or, vicey versey.] hoping that campbell's okay, and also, congratulating chris johnson on a 190 yard game. i have been squarely on the cj-haters bandwagon, but if he wants to prove me wrong, well that's a-oh-fine by me.

everything looks better when you're winning.