Grilled cheese sandwich: Gruyere, Fontina, sliced green apples, spinach on sliced sourdough. Field greens salad with citrus vinaigrette and pecans. Cupcake Cellars Red Velvet wine.

Thanks CP! And thanks for turning me on to M & W! http://youtu.be/tWBASgxxLWs

Sending some Nick Cave to a friend and searching thru YouTube for some good clips. "Jubilee Street" was my favourite song from the most recent Nick Cave album, but as good as the song was on the album, the song in concert was so much more powerful. In fact, there is such a wealth of outstanding live clips of the song on YouTube, including the show I saw at the Fonda, I am having a hard time deciding which one to send my friend. So I'm sending three different ones. Austin City Limits: Fonda Theatre, Hollywood: Sydney Opera House (from "20,000 Days on Earth" film):

My favourite U2 songs are generally the ones less known and rarely played on the radio. Here are two of them...in live versions that are better than the studio versions. Live at Boston Garden 2001: Live in Paris 1987:

Send me the leftovers, please.

Spinning the discs at work again... 1. Led Zeppelin "Live at Whisky a Go-Go January 5, 1969" 2. Velvet Underground - Third album 45th Anniversary Deluxe set...Disc 4: 1969 Sessions for 4th album 3. T. Rex "The Slider" 4. Sigur Ros "( )" 5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Push the Sky Away"

Don't even think about it. Keep away.

Dusting off this classic once again on its anniversary...Whisky a Go Go January 5, 1969.

You're that surprised by a Cincinnati Bengals loss? They are known the world over as the Bungles (or Bungholes) for a reason, Rick. Have you ever heard of a little thing called 'Institutional Memory'? The Bengals have it in spades. As a matter of fact, both of today's games were instructive for illustrating the curse of institutional memory. Usually when this term is used, it is meant positively to refer to a company's or organization's success and influence through the generations. In terms of football teams, the New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers all have positive institutional memory coursing through their organization's veins. In other words, winning breeds winning. But there is a negative institutional memory as well. As I wrote about in my post about the Detroit Lions a couple weeks ago, certain teams are perennial losers for a reason. Losing leaves a residue...and constant losing means this residue accrues to the point that it seeps into the entire team's infrastructure, its DNA. It permeates the entire franchise with its stench and nothing short of a clean sweep of biblical proportions, an exorcism, will wash it away. No mere changing of coaches or even owners will be enough. It has to be a forceful purge...a la Pete Carroll's successful takeover of Seattle. Within two years, all of the losers from prior regimes were eradicated from the team by Carroll. Sometimes the negative vibe is so entrenched it takes a powerful confluence of events to change the institutional mindset. Take New Orleans, for decades a sad pitiful franchise seemingly doomed for eternal failure. But then three groundshifting events unfolded in short order...Hurricane Katrina, snatching coach Sean Payton away from Dallas, and signing Drew Brees, the first real franchise quarterback in Saints history. Almost immediately, the demeanor and fortunes of the team changed, culminating in their first Super Bowl win. Can Detroit do the same? Possibly...but not with this crew. Jim Caldwell is just another Morningwheg or Wade Davis or some other nondescript coaching retread. Matthew Stafford may be a good quarterback, but to change the effects of institutional memory you need a supernatural talent like Drew Brees or Tom Brady. I spent the whole first half of today's Detroit @ Dallas game talking my Cowboy-loving brothers off the ledge. When Detroit was up 14-0 and seemingly could do no wrong, I said "relax...Detroit's ineptitude and history of failure will rear its ugly head soon enough". In a football game of 60-80 plays, not every play is a positive one. The good teams limit their negative plays, while the bad teams have a preponderance of bad plays. Detroit's incredible run of good plays to start the game only meant that they were saving their usual allotment of bad plays for the rest of the game. By halftime, you could see the writing on the wall...Detroit should have been up by a lot more than 17-7 and momentum was shifting. Winning teams go for the jugular and play to win. Losing teams are indecisive and play not to lose. When Detroit turned the ball over on the first possession of the second half, that was it...it didn't even matter that Dallas didn't score off the turnover. Detroit's institutional memory set the wheels of failure in motion. Take those horrible fourth down plays Detroit wimped out on. Winning teams such as New England approach a 4th and 1 situation with a play in mind. When Brady and Belichick decide to go for it on fourth down, they run an actual play! They are not afraid to fail, which is why they are successful more often than not. They know that even if the play doesn't succeed, they have sent a message to their opponent that they aren't messing around; they are here to win and they believe in themselves. They don't go out there and hope to get the other team to jump offside and if it doesn't happen, simper off to the sidelines and punt. For one thing, only stupid teams fall for a hard count on fourth down. Sure, teams will jump offsides on first, second, or even third down...the players' focus is caught up in the game. But on fourth down, the first thing coaches and defensive players tell each other is "DON'T BE TOO EAGER! Don't fall for a hard count and jump offsides!" Since stupid teams routinely fall for that trick, it only makes sense that the coaches of these stupid teams would think they could fool other teams into doing the same thing. Hence, clueless Lion coach JIm Caldwell sends Matthew Stafford out there twice on fourth-and-one with nothing other than a wing-and-a-prayer to try and draw Dallas offsides. Of course, it doesn't work as the Dallas defense is rooted to the ground like granite. Instead of having the balls to go for the first down, Detroit pussies out and punts. Detroit basically told Dallas "We are afraid of your defense and have no confidence in our offensive line to get even one measly yard...please don't hurt us and make us your bitches." That is the bad institutional memory haunting Detroit all these decades. They've been cowards for years and will continue to be cowards because that is all they know. The Football Gods were so affronted by Detroit's cowardice, they punished the Lions by having their punter shank a punt barely past the line of scrimmage. It was as if they were saying to Jim Caldwell, "Okay, you want to be a wimp and not try to win, we are not going to let you pin Dallas deep and instead we will reward Dallas with great field position and let them get all the calls." I was laughing repeatedly at Detroit in the second-half...and not just because I picked Dallas in the pool. It was a comical example of why teams such as Detroit never win...and Cincinnati is the same.

There is only one question that matters for the Title Game: Can Ohio St.'s defense stop or at least slow down the Oregon Duck's offense? I have no doubt that Ohio St. will score points on Oregon's defense. The question is how many points will the Ducks score? If the Buckeyes can hold the Ducks to 24 or less, then they have a shot.

^^^ Marty Morningwheg is the shitbag Detroit coach you're thinking of, Rick. As for the name of Detroit's old stadium, I can't remember. As for the Bungholes, it's your own damn fault Rick. Never trust a ginger is what I always say...ignore at your peril. Never trust Marvin Lewis for that matter.

Not so much about getting any Zeppelin for Christmas this year...besides, I had long already acquired all the Super Deluxe Box sets released in 2014. No way I was going to be able to wait to see if anyone would get me one for Christmas, hahaha. No, this year was more about sharing the Zeppelin with others for Christmas.

Maybe Rick is on to something. I went with friends to a "Back to the Future" marathon earlier tonight at the American Cinematheque...all three "Back to the Future" movies screened back-to-back-to-back. I hadn't seen these movies since they first came out, and I had forgotten most of the plot particulars. So I was struck by the plot in "Back to the Future II", where Marty McFly and Doc go to the year 2015. The Biff from 2015 changes his future by going back to 1955 and giving his younger self a "Sports Almanac 1950-2000" book. One of the sports results that we see while Marty McFly is watching 2015 news is that the Chicago Cubs beat Miami to win the World Series that year! There you go...put your futures bets on Chicago and Miami, hahaha!

^^^ Football Follies!

Ditto dear. Late night supper of baseball steak at the HMS Bounty tonight. With mashed potatoes and zucchini and carrots. Glass of pinot noir.

I still like New England's chances. The Steelers were Jeckyll & Hyde this year...so good one week and so bad the next. Plus, I was an idiot for not changing my pick once it was clear LeVeon Bell was not going to play. The Steelers missed not only his running but his pass protection assistance. They were turned into a one-dimensional offensive team, which plays into the hands of a team like Baltimore. New England won't be so limited.

Not a single Raider in the bunch.

Just curious...are any of you who have a team in the playoffs growing a "playoff beard"? Walter? Bong-Man? I'll put you down as a "No" ebk.

Aye, the Pacific Northwest is a great place. Welcome to the Forum Caitlin. By coincidence, I have seen Led Zeppelin 14 times, once for every year you've been alive...but not in the Pacific Northwest.

I am a day late and a dollar short but belated Happy Birthday to Whoopie Cat! I hope you rang in your birthday and the New Year in raucous Aussie fashion! Oi! Oi! I always instantly think of "Misty Mountain Hop" when I see your name, so I play the song in your honour. Cheers!

Welcome back BUCK'EYE' DOC! Long time, no see. Congrats to your Buckeyes finally beating the SEC curse! In fact, the SEC did not have a good bowl showing this year. Now we get an old-fashioned Pac-10 vs. Big 10 Rose Bowl matchup in the championship game. Nothing old-fashioned about Oregon, though. Tempo, tempo, tempo.

Here we go again...how many times do I have to repeat that it was the 1972 Lakers that won 33 games in a row and beat the New York Knicks for their first title in Los Angeles? 1970 was the Laker team that infamously lost the championship to the Knicks in the seventh game when Willis Reed came limping out at the Garden to inspire the Knicks. Gail Goodrich, a vital part of that 1972 team, wasn't even a Laker yet in 1970, he still played for Phoenix. Such a different league back then...no free agency, the reserve-clause, Red Auerbach could hoard players for years. Chamberlain was a great physical force but he didn't seem to have the heart and grit that Russell had. One of the worst free-throw shooters I have ever seen.

Sorry, Oregon/Bama is what I am hoping for...want the West Coast to represent. Whoa, Nellie! I did not think I would live to see the day jabe would say something like that! Sorry Debbie for that double-dose of pain you had to endure.

Saw "American Sniper" tonight. Hot damn, after the last couple of his movies were kind of dreary ("Jersey Boys" especially sucked), Clint Eastwood is back with a winner. Bradley Cooper is excellent as the real-life Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. I will say no more so as not to give away plot spoilers, but this movie has immediately jumped into my top 10 of the year. TypeO, zepscoda, and redrum, you guys need to see this movie NOW!