Friday, September 17, 2004
Why do we go to the moon
Rice Owls Football has started the season 2-0 with a 41-29 win over Hawaii. Going back to last year, the Owls have now won five straight, and I'm sure they'll be getting Top 25 recognition any day now... Next Saturday (4pm PST on Fox Sports Net), Rice visits my children's hometown of Austin to face the powerful fifth-ranked Texas Longhorns. Rice has played Texas almost every year of my life, and has a single win to show for it.
This glorious win happened in 1994. Due to the baseball strike, the Rice-Texas game was moved to Sunday night so it could be shown nationally on ESPN. The game was played at Rice in front of 10,000 loyal Rice fans and 60,000 Longhorns (Rice Stadium seats 70,000 and once hosted a Super Bowl, but our school only has 3,500 students). The game was played in a constant rain
After a weekend, where I watched "Miracle", I'm feeling particularly inspired that a few words can lead to upset victories of biblical proportions. So, I intterupt this regular M's blog to remember the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Here is the full text of the speech, but this is what is relevant:
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not only because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
Go Owls! Intend to win!
Today's picks:
Pirates(Fogg) +175 over Cubs(Wood)
Astros(Hernandez) +140 over Giants(Tomko)
Mariners(Moyer) +190 over Angels (Sele)
Reds(Claussen) over Braves(Thomson)
Money to date: $-423 (picking dog/favorite = +1322/-1745, 42-59, 31-31). With $1620 at risk, betting on every game, here's how I did...
Winners: Devil Rays(+135), Royals(+200), RedSox(+130), Mariners(+170), Dodgers(+100) for a total of +735
Losers: Reds(-100), Phillies(-210), Brewers(-100),DBacks(-100), WhiteSox(-100), Twins(-145), Rangers(-100), Padres(-120) for a total of -975
Rained Out: Mets
Somehow didn't pick: Braves
