Twenty years ago, I was fifteen, and a high school sophomore in Baton Rouge. I had been going to LSU football games for the past five to six years, with the Tigers not doing much on the gridiron worthy of national recognition. Likewise, Skip Bertman still had another five years to go before he would lead LSU's baseball team to their first College World Series win. But in March of 1986, a man named Dale Brown was leading a team of talented but not exceptional basketball players to the height of college basketball: the Final Four. There was no Shaq on this team, no Stanley Roberts, no Chris Jackson. Those players would come later, and without the success of this team. This team had Blanton, Redden, Wilson, Vargas, Jovanovich, and Williams. This LSU basketball team began the tournament of 64 ranked eleventh in their bracket. Twenty years later, they remain the lowest seed to ever make it to the Final Four. I had grown up in Baton Rouge, having moved there when I was five. While only 60 miles away, New Orleans could have been on the other side of the universe as far as Baton Rouge was concerned. When it came to sports, I lived and breathed LSU athletics. I pretty much still do. I remember watching the Tigers' miracle run on television. The joy of the players when they beat number-one Kentucky to advance to the Final Four in Dallas. The tears of Ricky Blanton on the bench as time wound down in their national semifinal loss to Louisville. Coach Brown comforting Blanton and other players after the buzzer had sounded. So close. So far. Three days ago, the Tigers of 2006, a group of talented but not exceptional young men, knocked off number-one Duke. Duke, ranked number one not just in the bracket they shared with LSU, but ranked number one out of the entire field of sixty-four. Last night, they toppled number-two Texas, and on the anniversary of the last LSU Final Four team, find themselves on their way to Indianapolis with a shot at the national title as they take on UCLA. So close. So far. GEAUX TIGERS!!!

The National Next of Kin Registry. Thanks to Motorola, I cannot look at NOKR's acronym without thinking of mobile phones.

Apparently, today is National Waffle Day. [Via Radical Breeze.]

Tom snapped photos at the gathering of Abdul Rahman supporters outside the Afghan embassy in D.C. today. Jeff was there as well.

My favorite band contains big Apple fans apparently. Way cool.

I downloaded the new iChat icons for .Mac members, but I'm fairly certain I won't use any of them.

Europe at night: a digital composite of archived satellite images.

If you have a Nick-N-Willy's in your area, and you haven't tried a pizza from them yet, I encourage you to do so. No, they won't hold a candle to those from a real NYC- or Chicago-style pizzeria, but the pizzas are way better than any you'll get from the typical fast-food pizza guys. I'm now discarding all of the Papa John's coupons we receive each week.

Earlier tonight at Costco, I happened upon the Samuel Adams Brewmaster's Collection Mix Pack. It's basically a sampler case of different Sam Adams brews. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a regular drinker, so when I want to have a beer, I want a good one, and a Sam Adams happens to fit that category. However, I've never had any of their brews other than the Boston Lager. So when I saw the Brewmaster's Collection, I knew I had to give it a try. In addition to the Boston Lager, it features the Boston Ale, the Scotch Ale (one of which is currently chilling), the Black Lager, the Hefeweizen, and the Brown Ale.

Also at Costco, Boylan Bottling Company had a table set up where you could sample their various sodas, and buy mix-and-match cases. I have had Boylan sodas in the past, due to their being sold at a Jersey boardwalk-style deli we frequented. (Sadly, said deli has since closed up.) Our case contains Diet Black Cherry (my favorite), Diet Root Beer (better than Barq's), and Orange Creme (you will never look at any other orange soda the same).

If you use iCal, you owe it to yourself to download and register Aram Kudurshian's High Priority. It's well worth the $6 license.

This afternoon, I finally got around to syncing my new iMac Core Duo with my still somewhat new iPod Video. Only iSync doesn't recognize the iPod. What?!?!? I'm sure this issue was covered elsewhere on the Mac news and in the blogosphere, but I missed it. You now use iTunes to sync your Address Book and iCal info with your iPod. Thanks, Apple, for making what was once a one-click move now something that takes two applications.

Jeff Harrell, on his recent move to the DC area:

They have Chick-fil-a here, which is good. But the sandwiches are like three bucks each or something equally absurd. I mean, I knew Texas was the land of milk and honey where the streets are paved with gold. I didn’t realize that it was also the land of cheap chicken sandwiches. Apparently it’s both.

Dan said it, not me.

Fraser Speirs:

I have this theory that there is an ineffable quality to certain attractive consumer products, and I can only term it niceness. It's the MSG of consumerism - you don't know what it tastes like by itself but you know when it's present and you know when it's not.

[...]

It's somewhere in the confluence of size, shape, materials, texture and that pleasant weightiness that lesser products don't have. I said it was the MSG of consumerism. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't more like consumerism's crack cocaine. Jonathan Ive is my dealer.

Welch wants one, but I think if that thing was in my house, it would end up in pieces once I hunted it down.

"Khaos" has released a derivative piece of art, titled "Forsaken Soul", based on a landscape photo I took on the Big Island of an old lava flow.

My observations on the commercials shown during the Super Bowl. My top five are at the bottom. I've moved the entire work below the break.

5:33 PM CST
I can't believe Burger King wasted two million dollars (or whatever obnoxious amount the spots are going for this year) on the "Whopperettes". 5:40 PM CST (That was a short four downs, Steelers.)
The "Magic Fridge" Bud commercial had me cracking up. 5:43 PM CST
Living in Texas, I get Spanish shoved down my throat enough, thanks, Toyota. I liked the FedEx "Caveman" commercial. Something very Dilbertian about it. Regarding it and the Bud Light "Bear attack" commercial, my wife ponders "Why do people think people getting killed or mauled is funny?" 5:51 PM CST
The Diet Pepsi-"Diddy" commercial left me flat. Nice use of an iPod, though. 5:58 PM CST
The Ameriquest "That killed'em" commercial is hysterical. 6:05 PM CST
The Diet Pepsi-Jackie Chan "Stunt double" commercial is genius. SBC-AT&T, ho-hum. Can we work on upgrading the Cingular network instead of flushing money down the Super Bowl bowl? 6:12 PM CST
You would expect there to be a Budweiser Clydesdale football game commerical. You weren't expecting the "Streaker", were you? Mobile ESPN: I like my sports, but... 6:17 PM CST
The CareerBuilder.com monkey commercials are soooo played. Cadillac's Escalade coming up through the model runway is a cool effect, but otherwise a yawner. 6:19 PM CST
They are looking for any excuse to go to commercial, aren't they? Tom Cruise attempts to get you to donate more money to Scientology with the third installment of the Mission Impossible movie franchise. I think it speaks highly of Dove that they spent their Super Bowl money on the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. 6:25 M CST
Further proof Disney has run out of creative ideas: let's remake The Shaggy Dog with Tim Allen. Ford scores big with Kermit the Frog and "It Ain't Easy Being Green" for the new Escape Hybrid. (Take note, Toyota.) The Michelob Ultra "Touch Football" commercial doesn't score. 6:35 PM CST
I've already seen GoDaddy's commercial, and it's certainly the least risque thing they've run to date. (Only because this was the fourteenth cut of the commercial, and the network finally allowed it.) 6:38 PM CST
Further proof all of Hollywood has run of original ideas: let's remake The Poseidon Adventure and shorten the title. In case you couldn't figure out that Gilette was releasing a five-blade shaver with all the teasers they've been airing the past two weeks, they actually show you the razor this go-around. The extended Desperate Housewives plug with Shaq, Hawk, Sugar Ray (the boxer, younglings, not the band), and Hef brought a smile. 6:42 PM CST
A typical Overstock.com commercial. 6:44 PM CST
Good call, bringing in Kelsey Grammar to voice the Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary commercial. 6:55 PM CST
I was wondering what the Sprint "Crime Deterrent" was going to be. That got a smile out of me. I thought the NFL Network's Super Bowl "Today we're all unified" commercial was appropriately touching. Nothing new with Nissan's Xterra commercial. More bragging over the Motor Trend award. BREAK, BREAK. HALF TIME SHOW.
The Rolling Stones may have been a "safe" choice, but they sound like crap. What a shocker they open with "Start Me Up", the most recognized Stones song to the modern generation, thanks to Microsoft. Another thought: are the Stones heavy investors in those cryogenic businesses out in Arizona? Maybe next year the network and league can come up with some entertainment that's not putting out music no one listens to and has to rely on its thirty-plus year-old hits and brainless fans who show up tour after tour to shell out money to hear the same songs over and over. 7:20 PM CST
The Ford Mustang commercial you've been seeing for...well, quite awhile. Typical cute commercial from Jack-in-the-Box. One of the Nissan Titan "Work Truck" commercials featuring the theme from Stripes. Is your local news channel putting out commercials like our ABC affiliate, touting their news team? 7:25 PM CST
The Disney commercials with the Seattle and Pittsburgh players practicing "I'm going to Disneyland!" is genius. 7:34 PM CST
I thought the time lapse of the meteor rock was pretty cool. Didn't think it would result in a mobile phone being deposited on a beach. 7:42 PM CST
Budweiser's "I won't tell if you won't" commercial with the pony "pulling" the beer wagon is cute. Nationwide's "Fabio shampoo" commercial starts off kind of funny, then gets creepy. I liked the "Old Days" NFL Mobile commercial. "We ate non-organic foods and had to use the Internet!" 7:49 PM CST
Like most Hummer commercials, the "Love is Strange" one for the H3, featuring the giant robot and Godzilla clone having a "baby" just struck me as kind of, well, stupid. The PS cleaning solutions commercial with everyone in biohazard suits was cute. 7:54 PM CST
I didn't see it coming in CareerBuilder's "That's okay, I work with a bunch of jackasses." That brought a chuckle. The latest in Taco Bell's "Good to Go" series for the Crunchwrap Supreme, featuring geek love. She's pretty cute; ever since my love and I both started wearing spectacles, I'm noticing more cute chicks with them. 8:01 PM CST
Toyota is 0-2, this time with one of their "indestructible" truck commercials. The commercials shows a Tacoma, via time-lapse photography/video surveillance, getting bounced around by ocean waves while the owner is out kayaking or surfing, or something. Note to Toyota: try making a truck that doesn't look effeminate, then we'll talk about how tough they are. 8:14 PM CST
Another Sprint commercial, on music downloads to your phone, with a burning couch. Nice usage of the sideline hash marks as sound levels in ESPN's Monday Night Football spot. Here in DFW, we got a Dodge MegaCab truck commercial, and an American Airlines spot featuring a guy packing for his wife so he can take her on a surprise dinner trip out of town. Ho-hum spot for the Acura RL. 8:23 PM CST
Degree's spot highlights a stunt man in various every day situations taken to the extreme. I've never found the Emerald's Nuts commercials very funny, and the "Druid under the stairs" one doesn't so anything to change that. The Fidelity-Paul McCartney spot you've seen numerous times before. 8:29 PM CST
Totally computer-generated, of course, but the Bud commercial that purports to show fans in a stadium with those flip signs pouring beer from a bottle to a glass is decent. The MasterCard-MacGuyver spot is the best of the night. 8:34 PM CST
Another Mobile ESPN spot. Nice Honda Ridgeline commercial featuring mud flap characters, who have "been around trucks for a long time". Here's to Beer offers "Cheers" in multiple languages. 8:40 PM CST
Great spot for the World Baseball Classic. The GoDaddy spot airs again. The ESPN Monday Night Football spot airs again. Commerical for the new Ford Explorer. (Was this a DFW/Texas-only spot?) 8:53 PM CST
Spot for the movie Running Scared. Outback Steakhouse commercial with a guy speaking in an Australian accent trying to pry a boomerang off the wall. The whole schtick is "coming back". Spot from the Westin hotel chain, announcing they're going all non-smoking. Pro Bowl spot that I didn't really get. Game Over
I consider these spots shown immediately after the conclusion of the game to be the last Super Bowl commercials of the night. Blockbuster lets everyone in the nation know they're going after Netflix. The same TGIFriday's you've seen for the past few weeks, what appears to be a new All State insurance spot, and the same Expedia.com "Calendar" commercial they've been showing lately. Top Five
These are my favorite commercials from tonight. 1. MasterCard's "MacGuyver" 2. Bud's "Magic Fridge" 3. Ameriquest "That killed'em" 4. Diet Pepsi-Jackie Chan "Stunt Can" 5. Bud's "Streaker"

Something struck me a few minutes ago: does anyone live in the middle of Missouri? The two most populous cities, St. Louis and Kansas City, are on the eastern and western edges of the state, respectively. You never hear about any other place in the Show Me State, except for Springfield.

Given my personal experience working for Verizon, and continuously hearing stories from my friends who are still employed there, this rings so true.

The Ozabs saw Anna pop out in to the world from her warm, cozy womb, back on the 19th. What is it with ATPM staffers and early children? Congratulations, Mom and Dad, and welcome, Anna!

I missed blogging about the 300th anniversary of Ben Franklin's birthday, so I knew I couldn't miss today. What's today? Today is the 250th anniversary of the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. While Tom and I agree that Bach is the better composer (and I would rate Handel better, as well), Mozart's body of work is quite an accomplishment, given what he produced before his death at the age of 35. There are composers today, living in to their eighties, who do not produce music with the depth and scope that Mozart did.

Things to think about that you probably have never thought about: Can you cry under water? How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered? Why do you have to "put your two cents in", but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to? Why does a round pizza come in a square box? What disease did cured ham actually have? How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage? Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours? (Jim and Lissa, take note!) If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing? Why are you in a movie, but you're on TV? Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground? Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway. Why is "bra" singular and "panties" plural? Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat? If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him? Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane? Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don't point to their crotch when they asking where the bathroom is? Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs! If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner? Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride; he sticks his head out the window?! Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune? Why did you just try singing the two songs above? [Via e-mail from my mom.]

HappyNews.com. Real News. Compelling Stories. Always Positive. As opposed to the typical "if it bleeds, it leads" attitude of the major news organizations, Byron Reese believes, "News should give you an accurate view of the world." It's not all sunshine and roses, but it's not all doom and gloom, either. The site also offers a weekly online lifestyle magazine. [Via Reader's Digest.]

Yes, they should.

Above is the proposed billboard to be placed in a high-traffic area near the USC campus. LSU grads in the Dallas area, annoyed by the media coverage over USC's attempt at "a third-straight national championship", have raised the necessary $10,000 for the proposed billboard, and are working with a Mobile firm in scouting for a suitable location. As you would imagine, even the Bruins are happy about it. The message here, people, is that the Bowl Championship Series was created for the sole purpose of providing the means, in lieu of a playoff system, to determine the one, true national champion of Division I-A college football. God knows I have my myriad issues with the BCS, but it is, despite its faults, the system in place, and it should be respected. This is the vein of the message from Onepeat.com. [Via Hugh via Xon.]

Are you a kept man? Living off the fruits of the labor of your wife, girlfriend, significant other? Married a trust-fund cutie or a wealthy widow? Tell the world with Kept Man Apparel!

Ron Moore, creator and executive producer of the best show on television, shares his favorite science-fiction tomes.

From the "You've Got to Be Kidding Me" Department "Hi, we're Western Digital. Since our hard drives are slightly above average in performance and reliability, rather than making them top-notch, the industry's best, we thought we would throw our research and development in to making clear cases for the drives, so you can see the inner workings..." It actually is a rather impressive drive, specification-wise. I just prefer Seagates, when I can get them.

From the "You've Got to Be Kidding Me" Department: Part Two The mail arrived at the house today at approximately one o'clock this afternoon. I know this only because I was walking down the stairs at that moment, and saw the postal worker depositing today's mail in our box. Within today's delivery was my latest order from the BMG music club of which I am still a member. I don't order from them very often, waiting for the really good sales they have from time to time, but that's not really the point here. The point is that at approximately two-thirty, an hour and a half after I pulled the order out of the mailbox, an e-mail from BMG hit my In box, informing me my order had shipped. Way to stay on top of things, guys.

Have you seen the McDonald's commercial with the face-painting football fans? I just about lost it when Tiger Face licks the back of his hand at the end.

Given Ellyn's column this month on Wikipedia, I thought this Penny Arcade was apropos. [Wave of the phin to Dan.]

Lee and I share a pet peeve relating to grammar, and he has chosen to begin documenting finds in meatspace. One reason I don't slog through comments on most blogs is because the respondents apparently didn't learn anything in third grade, or since. "It's" means "it is," and "Its" denotes the possessive case. "There" denotes a place, while "Their" denotes a plural possessive. Those are the two major mistakes I see, which irk me to no end.

The Scottish accent--when it is comprehensible--is better for business than a regional English accent.

If you want to get ahead in business and don't speak the Queen's English, it is better to sound as if you are from Scotland, or indeed from America, Europe or India, than from any English region. Those Brits sure can be a wee odd at times. [Via AWAD.]