Sunset Vette

I went down to the Dallas Auto Show last night and snapped a few pictures I thought I might share. The show was short on exotics and/or prototype cars, which was disappointing. But they did have a beautiful selection of Corvettes on display, including a coupe and convertable Grand Sport as well as a jaw-dropping ZR1. For some reason I completely forgot to get pictures of the Grand Sports, but I did get a selection of the ZR1.

Images are thumbnails so you can click to enlarge them. Enjoy.

ZR1 Side View

ZR1 viewed from the front quarter

Rear Quarter of the ZR1 Corvette showing the ZR1 badge

Clear panel on the hood showing the LS9

ZR1 Wheels

ZR1 Specification Sheet

And for a more traditional look… the one and only C1 that I found at the show. They had plenty of other classic Chevrolets there, lots of Bel Aires and whatnot. But this was the creme of the crop.

Teal and White C1 at the Dallas Auto Show

I like to shop at discount book and record (cd) shops. Over the years I have found some interesting things. This past week, for example, I found a compact disc from Miranda Lambert that I didn’t recognize. She has three national releases that I already have, but this one was different. The copyright year was also older than I remembered. The disc was fairly scuffed but looked like it would play okay.

I bought it for $3.

Later I looked out on Amazon to get the cover art because iTunes did not find it. There were no new discs available (not surprising, really). There were three used, “… starting at $99.99″ from various sellers. Wait. $99.99? Yes it was true. There were three used discs available, starting at just under $100 and going up to $250. Hm, I said to myself. Just because they’re asking that much doesn’t mean they’re getting it, right?

So the next step was to go out to eBay and search completed auctions. Believe it or not, there are two completed auctions in the last 90 days, both for over $100.

It seems that this disc was self-financed by Miranda and her family before she went on Nashville Star and ultimately became a hit recording artist. There was a very limited production, and most likely a limited distribution. Miranda grew up in Lindale, Texas, which is not far from the D/FW area. I’m guessing that’s why this one showed up here.

You never know what you might find.

A few days ago I had a quandary… who to feel the most sorry for?

Was it the idiot in the wrong lane who realized nearly at the last moment and put on their turn signal to move over a lane?

Or was it the jerk in the correct lane that purposefully sped up to prevent the idiot from being able to merge in?

Either way it was nearly an accident right in front of me. Fortunately the idiot was able to wedge their way in front of the jerk and we all went on our merry way…

My cub scout den went to visit our local police office and saw this:

I especially like the sticker on the back:

Donated by your local drug dealer

And yes, it is a ZR-1. Here’s a closer shot from the back of the car.

Well, that was interesting.

It was a real shame that Colt got knocked out of the game so quickly. I would have liked to see him have the chance to end his career with an amazing championship game. Instead I got to watch Saban call conservative plays and yell at his special teams coach.

Wasn’t that a great onside kick by Texas? Kick it right at a guy, let it bounce off of him, then recover it.

Note to Texas: next time you’re about to intercept a fake punt pass, knock the ball down rather than catch it. Field position will be better.

Note to Texas QB Gilbert: it will be interesting to see you play next year. You showed some real spark in the second half.

LSU finished the season in the top 20 (#17 in both the AP and USA Today polls). It will be interesting to see what happens next year. I believe the main difference between LSU and Penn State this year was QB experience. That and more bad clock management by Miles at the end of the game, but that’s a different story.

Oh what might have been on a solid field…

LSU managed to mismanage the clock yet again. When there is less than sixty seconds on the clock, you don’t spend five seconds in formation before you start the play. One second is plenty. Yet that’s what they managed to do on their next to last play. A questionable penalty (at least in my mind) on an LSU player who was trying to get the pile separated pushed them back a bunch of yards, and ultimately Penn State won 19-17. The field was really sloppy which removed any “speed advantage” that LSU might have had, if there even was one. I was happy for the Penn State QB as the game obviously meant a lot to him.

There are quite a few discussions over the year about which conference is better. This year it seems there is no clear-cut winner unless it’s the Mountain West. Every other conference is at best 50% in the won/loss record for this bowl season, including the SEC which is currently 3-3. The Mountain West is 4-0, including victories by Air Force, BYU, Utah, and Wyoming. The conference has a chance to extend their record when TCU takes on Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. That should be an interesting game. It will be interesting to see if it’s close, or if one team or the other has a clear advantage. To me it was clear that Cincinnati did not belong on the same field as Florida; maybe TCU would have been a better choice afterall.

In other games involving SEC teams… Continue Reading »

LSU gets a decent bowl, although it would have been cool to have them come to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl. I might have tried to get tickets if that were the case. Penn State is certainly a worthy and intriguing opponent as well.

Texas probably should have lost to Nebraska. I can’t remember a worse case of clock management at the end of a game. Ever! What did they think, that they had to use up the clock because of Nebraska’s “quick strike” capability? Unless Texas can find their grove again, Alabama is going to walk all over them for the national title game. I hope Florida gets their collective head into the Sugar, or the Bearcats will show them who’s what. The bowl game that has to be the most unusual is the Fiesta, with two undefeated teams not playing for a national title. TCU and Boise State… I have to believe they would rather be playing one of the “big boys” to establish more field credibility for next year, but then again, the Fiesta Bowl is a nice bowl for the two schools. It could be a really interesting game at that, perhaps even more compelling than ‘Bama versus Texas.

I LOL’d at USC finishing the season the way they did. I said it before; teams with freshman quarterbacks do not, as a rule, make a serious run at the national title.

And finally, I hope Toby Gerhart takes the Heisman. He deserves it.

A few weeks ago I posted that I expected LSU to go 2-2 over their last four games. With some “expert” clock management we managed to do just that. At 9-3 LSU should get invited to a good bowl game, but we’ll find out for sure later this week.

After all of the upsets for the past two years it was interesting to see the top teams stay the same for essentially the entire season this year. Florida will meet Alabama in the SEC title game. Texas meets Nebraska in the Big 12 title game. Assuming Texas wins, it seems a reasonable conclusion for them to face the SEC winner for the title game. If not, another Texas school TCU seems primed to jump into the title game. I can’t remember a season with six undefeated teams this late into the season… of course one of the top two is going to have at least one loss after the SEC title game.

LSU did manage to move up after their overtime victory (over Arkansas) since Pitt lost and Georgia took out Georgia Tech. I don’t quite get how Ohio State ended up back in the top ten… when did that happen? They haven’t beaten anyone of note and they’re playing in a weak conference. Oh, wait, it’s the annual “Big 10 schools move up because they’re not playing anybody anymore” push. As other teams lose, Big 10 teams move up into the gaps. I see Iowa and Penn State in the top 10 too. Would I pick a two-loss Ohio State team over a three-loss LSU team? Nope. Continue Reading »

Oh if only the camera man had panned lower, Peterson might have had an interception that turned the game around. Oh, if only Peterson had not been out of the game when Julio Jones made his 73 yard catch and run for a touchdown. Two simple but important plays that might have changed the outcome of the game.

I believe LSU played well enough to stay in the top 15, especially since Oregon, Iowa, and Penn State all lost. LSU has been officially knocked out of the SEC championship race, as Alabama has locked up the West just one week after Florida cinched the East. The goal now for both teams is to get there with unblemished records, setting up a sure play-in game for the BCA championship. The most likely opponent? Texas, who ran all over UCF (who? yeah, I thought, so, a nobody) today. There aren’t many challenges left for Texas now, who should run the table all the way to the Big 12 championship game.

Once they get there, they might even lose (doubtful) and back into the BCS game like Oklahoma did a few years back… before they lost to LSU.

How does a football player who punches another player get banned for the season while another player who attempts to gouge out another player’s eyes gets suspended for half a game? Half a game! Seriously!

Let’s look at it this way… given the amount of padding that football players wear, how much damage is a punch going to do anyway? What is the possibility of long-term damage from such an action? None, or at the most extremely slight.

What is the possibility of long-term damage to having your eyes gouged? Real good, if you ask me. Look at what happened to Orlando Brown when he caught an official’s flag in his eye. He was out of football for several years.

So to summarize: In NCAA football, if you punch someone with little or no chance of doing long-term harm you get kicked off the team. But if you try to gouge someone in the eye you get suspended for half a game. That makes sense.

If you feel like I do, please send Coach Urban Meyer an email at CoachUrbanMeyer@gators.uaa.ufl.edu and let him know.