Two Degrees of Separation

A friend of one of my Facebook friends was killed in the Paris attack. A high school classmate had flown out of Paris earlier in the day, as did a couple from Johnson Ferry.

Sometimes I look at events in our culture and wonder if they will be around after ISIS attacks or even after our country and government and world is overrun and overtaken by Muslims. Yet those bozos at Missouri were upset all the Paris killings took the attention away from their made-up protest.  College football. NFL. MLB. NBA. The Masters. The Macys Parade. Hollywood, for sure. Shopping malls. What kind of world will my children live in? When and where will we be attacked – Washington DC? NYC? LA? Atlanta? Alabama passed a law forbidding Sharia Law. Why don't other states follow their lead? It may be too late in Michigan. Governors are standing up against the infestation of unvetted Syrian immigrants, yet the mayor of Pittsburgh welcomes them. Greensboro NC is asking citizens to turn in their guns. The president has federalized police forces in seven key US cities. Will the president declare marshal law and call off the 2016 election? Will the US and worldwide economy collapse? Will we lose everything? Come, Lord Jesus come.

It's hard to know which stories are true and which are fiction. Unlike many friends on social media, I almost never post political items. I rarely even "like" the political posts of others. But Saturday I saw this great cartoon showing Obama on Wheel of Fortune, and couldn't resist. I waited until almost midnight. Perhaps my "I don't care who you are, this is funny" caption left the door open for objections, as it struck at least one nerve.

Friday: Ceil, Anna, and Matthew were shopping at Perimeter Mall, then got themselves stuck in traffic taking M somewhere. I stayed at the office catching up on various projects. Stopped by Wendy's on the way home. Turned on the news.

Saturday: cleaned some upstairs. Watched College GameDay, GA/Auburn, Clemson/Syracuse, Oklahoma/Baylor. Did laundry. Had to pick up M from a music thing down near Toco Hills.

GA/Auburn: That Auburn QB Johnson was terrible. Threw sidearm – the reason his passes sailed high. With bad QB play both offenses stuck to the ground game. The Dawgs played conservative and let Auburn beat themselves. That goal line fumble was the last nail in Auburn's coffin.

Clemson/Syracuse: every team is bringing their A game against the Tigers. But as I have said all year, QB Deshaun Watson continues to misfire on passes downfield. He doesn't make many mistakes and is fine on those quick slant passes, but he just doesn't quite have every throw on the field nailed down yet. Clemson's defense was spotty, allowing several long runs and other big plays. They'll have to be firing on all cylinders to beat UNC and certainly any playoff team. In fact Alabama is turning into a beast.

Notre Dame/Wake Forest: the Deacons weren't blown out in South Bend. Did Clemson's next opponent leave everything on the field this week, or will they be able to rise to the occasion two straight weeks and give the Tigers a bit of a fight? Notre Dame gets better every week. Would Clemson be able to beat the Irish a second time? The first win was razor-thin. You'd think the rematch would come in the championship game as opposed to the play-in game.

Oklahoma/Baylor: the Baptist school has sold itself out to Nike to become the Oregon of the Southwest, but once again the Bears stumbled on the big stage. Perhaps the term "clemsoning" should be changed to "bayloring." Like dozens of other schools (including South Carolina and Iowa this week), Baylor trotted out all-black uniforms. They put up a good fight but made one too many key mistakes.

The ABC cameras caught one Baylor defender admonishing his teammate to fall on the ground injured to stop the game (above). In the past Mark Richt has said players are coached to do just that, to stay on the ground if they are hurt instead of risking further injury trying to limp off on their own or continuing to play. Now the Baylor defender may have been injured (he was) and should have done exactly that (he did), but on camera it looked mighty fishy. Kirk Herbstreit jumped all over the guy, calling the antic "bush league" and "unethical." On Sunday Herby learned the guy was hurt, and took to Twitter to sincerely apologize.

Sunday: Johnson Ferry, then I gassed up the CRV, then we ate at El Porton. As usual, Ceil and I shared a plate. M got the lunch special. First time ever at a real Mexican place that our waitress was a blonde named Stephanie. In mid-afternoon the place was almost vacant, so we got great service. Didn't get home until 2:30, so the day was shot. With the house in such shambles it's hard to do anything. Watched some of the NFL Red Zone Channel, which freaked out Ceil. I had to explain to her how it worked. Great ending to the NE/NYG game. M got a ride to Passion, though now after a Friday night concert and sleepover and busy Saturday he is sick.

What did we watch Monday night? The Voice? DWTS? MNF? Tennessee@GT? Fox News? Nope. We watched one of Ceil's favorites: the movie classic "She's the Man."