Aging Father Bequeaths Wisdom

 My aging dad told me last year that a man or person proves himself by age 50. After that he does not have to prove anything (more).

Not true.

I have a lot to prove.

I am turning 56 soon enough.

A lot more to prove.

Maybe he just made that up.

BYU Football Versus the World: Who to Beat Next?

    Brigham Young University has been playing football since 1922. They did not play very competitively until the 1970s. The Cougars have played 122 diffferent teams in that 104 year time span. Overall, they have a winning record, beginning the season this next week historically with 643 total wins, 448 total losses, and 28 ties. Ties stopped back in 1997. Overtimes are the thing now.

    The website that chronicles the all-time matchups seems to have stopped aroun 2018, which is weird. It is 2026. They have not maintained it. BYU only has like 571 wins in it. 417 losses and 26 ties. Go figure. Cannot figure out the discrepancy of the two less ties.

    Anyway, I will identify in this blog post a few teams that they need to play in order to reduce the deficit of the win/loss ratio, but in many cases the teams are too small or do not exist anymore.

    I will do this in reverse alphabetical order. Also, due to the lazy latency of the website, it is possible  that they played some new programs, like Coastal Carolina in the COVID season. What a time that was. And the Chanticleers ruled the night. Still hurts a little..

    So here goes:

    Wichita State: BYU lost in 1950, and is 0-1. Do the Shockers have a team in 2026?

    West Texas State: BYU lost the one time in 1961, record is 0-1. Is that UTEP now? If so, I feel like BYU beat them... Maybe they are Texas State now? Mysteries... That match up could happen.

    Above: Nope, BYU clearly has a positive winning record against the Miners of El Paso. 29-7-1.

    Oh, man, the U.S. Marines. 0-1. Played in 1931. That is not make-up-uppable, because I am pretty sure that the Teufelhunden do not have an intercollegiate football team. They are really into fighting wars and stuff like that.

    San Francisco, 0-2. 1931 and 1941. I think this will be really hard to make a rematch. Oh, the Bay Area Killers!

    Portland took the Cougars twice in 1937-1938. We beat Portland State in 2017 (I was there in Provo!), but I do not think Portland is on the docket soon... 0-2, against the Portland... Pilots? Not looking good to get these rematches.

    Pacific Fleet. 0-2. 1948 and 1949. 

    Pacific. 0-1. Wow. Both those teams are hard to hook up with again. Maybe both do not have teams anymore. Far from the decades of millions in the armed forces after World War II.

    Made it to the Ps. This is getting onerous. More later, we hope.

    A lot of teams seem to not exist anymore. And they have overall wins over BYU.

    No chances for redemption. That is the way the cookies crumbles.

    

    

    

When the "State" College Football Team is Bigger or Better than the State Named School

    LSU. Louisiana State. Geaux Tigers. Is there a Louisiana U.? Maybe not. There is the University of Louisiana-Monroe, and the University of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, formerly Lafayatte. There is Louisiana Tech, where the great Karl Malone played.

    

    But LSU is the state school It is bigger, better, more famed, more feared, more talked about, more ballyhooed, than any. Other. LA. Team. In college. Usually more popular than the Saints, I would wager.

    Where else is the blank state named school bigger and better than its cousin without the "S" appelation? Perhaps Kansas (football) less than Kansas State. 

    We shall investigate. Michigan is bigger/better than Michigan State. Texas is better than Texas State.

    Where else?

    In Virginia, University of Virginia is much bigger and better than Virginia State, which is a small time football program and a historically black college.

   Are LSU and Kansas State the only ones?

    Florida State and Florida are close to even. That is an interesting example. They both are big, and they have to argue and bemoan who is more dominant. They both are huge. To be fair, Michigan State up there is pretty big, too.

    Ohio State is much bigger than Ohio. Okay, that is the biggest state. After LSU.

    The Buckeyes and the Tigers. And Florida State is even.

    Colorado is bigger than Colorado State.

    Mississippi and Mississippi State are about even. Like the  Florida situation.

    Iowa State claims power and nobility like the University of Iowa. Okay, Iowa makes three ties. Four if you count Kansas.

    What else.

    Of course. Penn State. PSU is ever more powerful than U Penn. Temple is bigger than Penn.

    All right, we got: The Ohio State, Penn State, and Louisiana State. 

    Nothing more, right?

    Thinking.

    NC State tries to be as big as UNC. But Duke is usually better than the Wolfpack.

    Carolina is bigger. Not by too too much. By North Carolina predominates. Even in football.

    That is all. New Mexico is bigger than NMSU.

    Buckeyes, Nittany Lions, Tigers of the Bayou. 

    Oregon over Oregon State. Washington over Washington State.

    Oklahoma is bigger than Oklahoma State.

    No such things as Nebraska State or Wyoming State, right?

    Hold the phone. North Dakota State is now a thing in FBS, Division One.

    The Bison? Okay, that is number four.

     There cannot be anymore...

    I have run the maps in my brain. 

    Thus it is. Four state powerhouses and maybe four ties.

    No, not quite. Arizona State and Arizona are tied. Five ties? That many?

    Okay for now.

    

    

Major League Saves are a Funny Thing - All Time Leaders are Low

    To make it in the top 1,000 saves leaders of all time, there are around a dozen or so pitchers with only 15 saves. That is paltry, in my opinion. Saves have become much more prevalent in the last few decades, so guys throwing before the 1970s did not have as many chances. Also, close wins are part of the save as a statistic. If a great closer is part of a team that blows out their competition a lot, he does not get as many chances to score the save.

    One great closer in a big season can get 50 or more saves. A few have done this consistenly. Some have some great seasons and peter out faster than others. The Wild Thing for Los Angeles was that way.

    It is hard to believe that 15 saves gets you into the top thousand of all time in 2026.

    Blog it, discuss it.

Global Warming is So Real, Science Skeptics and Deniers

    To claims that the world is not warming is being ignorant in spite of the facts. We are heating up the planet, no question.

    Back in elementary school we learned some science, displayed some projects in the gymnasium, and we were getting more savvy and aware one display at a time. In 6th grade, daily specialized classes of science, old Mr. Stewart (Stooey Manooey!) taught us about principles of our world and the the universe. In seventh grade... Maybe I did not do science? In 8th grade it was Mr. Hudson. We learned about the planets, the moon, more about the world we lived in. Facts.

    What was seventh grade? Hateful cooking with Mrs. Graebe. Maybe I had Huddy Bud that year, too?

    Freshman year, anthropology. Not as hard a science, but still quite scientific. Built on empiricism, all the same.

    Sophomore year was biology. The sweet old teacher was a Bible believer, but a good science teacher all the same. Riggelman and an student teacher came in for a bit, too.

    Junior year: physics. Oh, the formulas.

    Senior year. Chemistry. I could not pass the tests, and most of the homework. But I learned some things. I read magazine articles about science, too. Not to mention science fiction.

    College, I passed my requisites.

    All said, science is a thing.

    We cannot deny that ice is melting everywhere and temperatures are rising.

    RIP to the victtims in Nepal and Tibet. 

    Ice is melting...

 Goodbye, Dolly! Eighty Years Old. Eternal and Forever. Grateful for Grace

    Yes, she was America. Our country, our humqity. I hope that she had children and those had theirs. Continue her beautiful spark.

    She was talented and smart, and luckily lived to be 80.

    A person of faith and grace.

    She created wonderful art and music. 

    We are better because of her.

    We thank God for Dolly Parton. She was among the best, by all counts.

    She lived quite a bit longer than Whitnety Houston, which was the person that she helped propel farther with her anthem.

    Amen.

Maybe I Am  Fixated with Elon Musk - Maybe He is the Problem, and I Would Like to Fix Things

    Elon is an easy but obvious target. He is very famous, the world's richest person. He has power and influence. Me, I am a much smaller fish. No one has followed this blog in 12 plus years in its existence. It has not earned money. Thankfully, it was not wiped and deleted (and won't be?) as my Foxsports blogs were that I wrote from end of 2005 into the summer of 2009. They killed them, without fair warning.

    Many of the things I wrote were not impactful, anyway. Only a few things, I think.

    I resent them taking away my writings, but I failed to back them up. I will take some of the blame. They offered me this service for the price of a free registration, and paying to be a denizen of the Internet.

    Okay.

    We fight for freedom, we live and die for it, and we are free to opine as I do here in this forum.

    Grateful for these blessings and privileges. Elon has done and is doing his part to better humanity and help others. He has. Unfortunately, he more recently has been part of sweeping cut of jobs and programs (2025) that was untempered, ill-conceived, rushed, and destructive. It led to many deaths. And uneeded suffering and death. How many did so? Remains to be seen. Any who might deny this might as well be part of those that we have not reached the moon.

    Believe what you want. Believe the facts that you know.

    It is important not to let innocent or desperate people suffer and die.

    Elon? Not sure. I do not think I could trust him to do the right thing. He clearly has done a lot of amazing things and been innovative and far-seeing, but he has disqualified himself as much of a paragon of our race. A very big fish. But harmful to quite a few.

    I hope the most and best for his children. And wives or ex-wives. I hope that they have more compassion and foresight than him when it comes to life and death.

    We, the good guys, save lives, we do not let them perish and die. No more suffering, Elon.

    Would you recognize these errors and apologize? Heavy juju.

    I have worked in fields that save and take lives. I have to account for those actions and efforts.

    Elon is at another level.

    I am worth maybe .01 percent of what he is worth? Monetarily. Maybe much less? .0001? Perhaps that is closer to our estimated worth in holdings and money. We are close to the same age.

    I am content with my actions, my intentions. I look to do things to help others.

    I wanted to be a State Department diplomat to help wage or assert peace. Not meant to be.

    War and strife are what they are. Others have attempted and failed, lived exemplary lives, tried their hardest to help represent the United States to negotiate truces and agreements to reduce hostility and violence.

    We only succeed so much. Conflict continues, the cycles persist.

    Meanwhile, I guess Elon is helping humanity in his ways. May he do so without killing anyone else.