S. Evan Townsend's Blog, page 45

Huskies are 5-2

There goes any hope of being in a College Football Playoff (CFP) spot. And there likely goes any hope of being Pac-12 Champions.

The University of Washington Huskies lost, in overtime, to the reviled University of Oregon Ducks. That makes the Huskies 5-2 over all and 3-1 in Conference. The Ducks are 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference which pretty much ties them with Washington. But since the beat Washington, they would be the champs.

It was a tight, hard-fought game from the beginning. The score was tied most of the game. The Ducks would pull ahead, then the Dawgs would tie it. The Dawgs would pull ahead, then the Ducks would tie it. It all came down to a field goal with the score tied 24-24 with three seconds left. Husky kicker Payton Henry tried to win the game for the Dawgs, but missed (on his third kick because the Ducks kept "icing" the kicker by calling time out). So the game went into overtime. The Dawgs got a field goal but the Ducks got a touchdown, winning the game 30-27.

The thing is, Coach Chris Petersen had a choice at the end. Trust Jake Browning to get the ball into the end zone of a 4th and goal, or trust his not-very-reliable kicker. He should have trusted Browning.

The Ducks had every advantage. They were coming off a bye week and were playing at home. The Dawgs played a lot of the game without star running back Myles Gaskin due to injury. When rising start Salvon Ahmed went out, too, our running game was in trouble.

Even if the Huskies win the rest of their games, unless the Duck lose again, the Ducks will be Pac-12 North Champions. So we have to root for whoever the Ducks are playing. Next week they play WSU in Pullman. Go Cougs!

Next week we face the Colorado Buffaloes at home. Colorado was undefeated until last night when USC defeated them. That's Homecoming, too, for the Dawgs.

UCLA got their first win of the season defeating Cal yesterday.

A lot of Pac-12 teams had byes this week (I think four teams), including WSU.

Elsewhere in College Football

Number-two ranked Georgia was defeated this weekend by #13 LSU. And #6 West Virginia lost to an unranked team. That'll move all of them down some. That would have been good news if Washington had won. Might have moved them up in the rankings.

And #8 Penn State lost to unranked Michigan State. That will ding them in the polls.

The AP Poll

Washington was at #7 and Oregon was at #17 before this game. Colorado was at #19 before they lost to unranked USC.

Now Washington is #15 (not as bad a drop as I thought it would be) and Oregon is #12. Colorado is no longer ranked. But look who, on a bye week, is suddenly in the top 25: Washington State at #25.

Huskies versus Ducks

Tomorrow at 12:30 PM PDT, the University of Washington Huskies take on the University of Oregon Ducks. This is one of the biggest games of the year because the Huskies hate the Ducks, and the Ducks loath the Huskies. It's either going to be on ABC or ESPN2 or ESPNU. Check your local listings (I hope they make up their minds before game time). You'd think a top-10 team playing a ranked opponent could get on ABC or ESPN.

This is one of the biggest football rivalries in the Pac-12.

The Huskies are ranked #7 in the AP top 25 college football poll. The Ducks are #17.

It's going to be a hard-fought game. The Ducks are coming off a bye weeks so should be well-rested and ready to play. The Huskies played UCLA last week and won, but it wasn't the blow-out I was hoping for with the 5-0 Bruins. And we play in Eugene in front of 54,000 angry Duck fans. Angry, because last time we played in Autzen Stadium, we won 70-21.

And, to have a shot at the College Football Playoffs (CFP), the Huskies have to win every game left in the season, especially this one against a ranked team. To win the Pac-12 North we can lose one game as long as we beat Stanford later in the year.

UPDATE: I didn't think of this until a sportscaster said it, but the winner of this came could likely be the Pac-12 North Champion with Stanford out of the running. So now it's even a more important game.

Should be a good game. Go Dawgs!

Health

Time once again for the 52-week blogging challenge. Today's prompt is: "Health."

I'm not a very healthy person. Some of that is my fault (overweight leading to type-2 diabetes) and some isn't (COPD from industrial exposure leading to pulmonary hypertension and edema). My health problems are such that I'm not sure I'll be alive in ten years.

I'm trying to lose weight (which I am about 50% of the time) but there's nothing I can do about the COPD and its accompanying problems. Because of the edema, I'm on diuretics and that limits my ability to travel because I have to urinate every 20 minutes. Either that or I don't take the diuretics and the edema gets a lot worse. So far it's mostly in my legs, but some in my arms and hands.

Because of my COPD, I'm on nighttime oxygen. I'm wondering how long until I'm on 24-hour oxygen.

I'd love to do more travelling but my health prevents it.

It I could lose weight, it would help a lot, but we all know how hard it is to lose weight.

How healthy are you? Are you happy with your health? Let me know in the comments.

Huskies are 5-1, On Top of the Pac-12 North

After beating UCLA yesterday (who are now 0-5), the University of Washington Huskies are now 5-1 over all and 3-0 in conference. This puts them alone at the top of the Pac-12 North (more on that later).

Going into last night's game, I was hoping for a blow-out. Something like a 48-3 victory. But UCLA wasn't having it and it was a hard-fought battle that ended with a score of 31-24. The Huskies led all of the game and had some brilliant plays. But the Bruins played better than their 0-5 record indicates. I was a bit worried the Huskies went in over-confident. And that may have happened. That and UCLA is improving, apparently. Next week UCLA plays Cal and that should be a close game.

It was a fast game because UCLA didn't throw the ball much so the game clock kept running. It was also kind of a boring game because UCLA didn't throw the ball much. UW quarterback Jake Browning played well and Myles Gaskin did his usually 100+ yards performance. Salvon Ahmed, a sophomore, also played well. Next year he's going to have to take over the starting running back position from Gaskin.

Next week we travel to Oregon to take on the Ducks. The Nike Quackers are coming off a bye so they will be well-rested. And we're playing on their territory in Eugene. That should be a tough game. It's at 12:30 PM PDT on ABC, ESPN, or ESPN 2. Check  your local listings.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12

There was one upset yesterday in the Pac-12. Unranked Utah beat #14 Stanford soundly with a score of 40-21.
In Palo Alto! That's why the Huskies are now on top of the Pac-12 North. Stanford has a record of 4-2 overall and 2-1 in conference. That is the Utah Ute's first in-conference win.

So, again, that puts the Huskies firmly on top of the Pac-12 North. Gives us some breathing room if we want to be Pac-12 Champions. But not if we want to go to the College Football Playoffs (CFP). To do that we'll have to win every game from here on out.

The only other 5-1 overall team is the Washington State Cougars who are 2-1 in conference so they are not a threat to Washington unless Washington loses an in-conference game.

We are now six weeks through college football's 13-week regular season. Things are starting to firm up in the Pac-12.

In the Pac-12 South, Colorado is still undefeated at 5-0 overall and 2-0 in conference. It's looking more and more as if the Pac-12 Championship game will be Washington and Colorado like it was in 2016. The Huskies also play Colorado in the regular season on October 20th. That should be a good game.

Elsewhere in College Football.

There were three big upsets in the AP top 10. #5 LSU lost to #22 Florida. And #7 Oklahoma lost to #19 Texas. Finally, #8 Auburn lost to unranked Mississippi State. The only reason we care is because if LSU, Oklahoma, and Auburn drop out of the top ten, this could move #10 Washington up.

The AP Top 25 Football Poll

The AP poll comes out at 2:00 PM each Sunday (except Labor Day weekend when it comes out on Tuesday. That's 11:00 AM PDT (my time zone). So I'm always waiting for it in order to finish this post.

Washington moved up to #7 making them the highest ranked team with a loss (all the rest are 5-0 or 6-0). Stanford is no longer ranked (that surprises me). The Ducks moved up to #17. And the undefeated Colorado Buffaloes are up two to #19.

Honor

(Wow, October already!)

Back to the 52-week blogging challenge. Today's prompt is "Honor" (although they spell it "honour").

What is honor? That's something I haven't thought a lot about. So I looked it up in the dictionary. And found it has a lot of meanings, including "the center point of the upper half of an armorial escutcheon."

You "honor" someone by speaking well of them, or giving them recognition. Or an "honor" could be a privilege ("I have the honor of memorializing the deceased").

Back when I was in the Army they talked of "Duty, Honor, Country." I think the use of "honor" they meant was "a keen sense of ethical conduct, integrity."

Someone once said that integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. I always think back to my days working in customer service, doing lab tests until ten at night or later (once until three in the morning). It would have been  easy to dry lab (make up and fill in the numbers) the tests. But I wanted to maintain my honor, so I did all the tests, even if I were there past midnight. And I usually got there between 7:00 and 8:00 A.M. So that made for a 16-hour day.

So I keep my honor as well as I can. What do you do to be honorable? Let me know in the comments.

Huskies are 4-1

And to think I was a little bit worried.

Last night on Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium in Seattle, the University of Washington Huskies played the Brigham Young University Cougars. The Cougars were ranked at #20 and the Huskies were ranked at #11 going into this game. This was the second time the Huskies played a ranked opponent, the first time being their loss to Auburn. But this game was one mistake away from being a shutout for the Huskies.

One the first two plays of the game, the Huskies showed brilliance. Then they had to punt. The Cougars made it to the red zone and had to try a field goal. They didn't get it. In fact, there were three field goal attempts in this game, one by the Cougars, two by the Huskies, and all three missed. That was the last time the Cougars would make it past the 50-yard line on their own.

Then the Huskies just kept scoring. The score was 21-0 at halftime. And still the Cougars could not even make it past mid-field.

With just a few minutes left in the game, the score 35-0, the Cougars punted (as they did so many times). It was raining and Chico McClatcher signaled for the fair catch but then he dropped the ball. The Cougars jumped on it and suddenly they were in the red zone. I think Husky coach Chris Petersen had put in back up players for defense because I didn't recognize any of the names. Still, it took the Cougars to 4th and goal to score in the final moments of the game.

Still, the Huskies looked amazing. Running back Salvon Ahmed made two running touchdowns and he's just a sophomore. He has so much potential. Senior quarterback Jake Browning made all but two of this pass attempts (and there were a lot). He surpassed the all-time Husky record for passing yards by a quarterback last night. Myles Gaskin was his usual amazing self.

The only part of the Huskies' game that needs improvement is the kicking game. Out kicker is a true freshman and he's done fine in other games, but here he missed two. Not that it mattered in the end. The final score was 35-7.

This is the end of non-conference play for the Huskies. They are 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play. Next week we face a hapless UCLA team that is 0-4 overall. There is a slight danger of over-confidence playing a win-less team. But I think Coach Petersen is good and tamping down on that. We play that game in Pasadena so it's an away game for the Huskies.

That game will be at 4:30 PM Pacific Daylight time on Fox. I'm a bit surprised a major network is carrying it with UCLA being as bad as they are. I thought the game might end up on the Pac-12 Network.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12

Stanford (ranked at #7 took on the #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. And lost. This helps the Huskies
because now Washington and Stanford are both 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference and tied for the Pac-12 North championship. It may all come down to when the two teams play at Husky Stadium on November 3rd.

Oregon, ranked at #19, beat #24 California so the Ducks are also 4-1 overall, but only 1-1 in conference. I suspect when the poll comes out, California will drop off. I wasn't sure why they were ranked, having a bye the week before they showed up on the poll.

Washington State beat Utah, ending Utah's chances of winning the Pac-12 South. Colorado at 4-0 over all and 1-0 in-conference are on top of the Pac-12 South right now. USC is second at 3-2 over all and 1-1 in conference.

Washington State is also 4-1 overall but 1-1 in conference (lost to USC last week).

The AP Poll

The AP Top 25 college football poll comes out at 2:00 PM EDT. That's 11:00 AM my time. So I'm always waiting for it to come out so I can finish this blog post. And then today it was delayed until 11:30. So I was quite annoyed.

But I was happy to see the Washington Huskies move up to #10. Stanford dropped to #14 after their loss. Oregon climbed to #14 from #19. Colorado got into the top 25 at #21. And after losing to Oregon, California dropped back off after one week in the top 25.

Washington is now the highest-ranked Pac-12 team.

And, finally, BYU also dropped out of the top 25 after losing to Washington.

The Future

The Huskies have to win every game from now on, including Stanford on November 3rd. That is the only way they can be Pac-12 North Champions (unless Stanford looses an in-conference game other than to the Huskies). Then they have to win the Pac-12 Championship game to be Pac-12 Champions. Right now it's starting to look as if we might play Colorado again in that game. Then the Huskies might get invited back to the College Football Playoffs (CFP). I hope we don't play those cheaters, Alabama, again in our first CFP game. But that's a long ways away.

Paper Straws

Paper StrawI know this is a political hot potato right now, but I'd like to add my two-cents on paper straws versus plastic straws.

I HATE paper straws.

When I was in Maryland last weekend (more here), I was served a drink (water) with a paper straw. At another place, they also had only paper straws so I went without.

A little background. When I was a kid, 50 to 45 years ago about, there were only paper straws. We didn't know any better. I remember one specific incident when I was drinking a milkshake and the straw collapsed in on itself, cutting off any ability to drink the shake through the straw.

Then plastic straws came out and the world got better.

In Maryland, this is what I re-learned about paper straws: they dissolve in liquid. The part that goes into your mouth gets mushy fast. The part that sits in the drink, gets mushy just as rapidly. My straw started bending at the air-liquid interface. If you don't drink your drink quickly, your straw becomes nearly useless. Plus, I swear there was a taste to the paper straw as it fell apart. It has to be held together with some sort of glue. I hope the glue isn't toxic. (Probably to make a paper straw not dissolve in water, you'd have to use a powerful yet toxic glue, I'm guessing.)

There's this stuff called "wet strength" that papermakers put in cardboard to make it survive contact with water. But I bet it's not FDA approved for putting in paper straws, and probably for good reason. If we're going to all switch to paper straws, we need an FDA-approved wet strength agent.

And when I got more water, I got another paper straw. It did the same as the first.

So I hate paper straws. I hope this anti-plastic-straw fad goes away soon or someone invents a better paper straw.

Living

Time once again for the 52-week blogging challenge. This week's prompt is "Living." Which means I'm supposed to write about what, exactly? No clue is provided.

I saw this thing online some where. It said, "It's not the breaths you take, but how often your breath is taken away." In other words, don't be hung up on being safe and sacrifice enjoyment. I know of people who refuse to enjoy life to its fullest because it might decrease their life expectancy a few moments. Or slightly increase their chance of dying. They tend to be joyless, colorless people anyway.

This is why I drive fast (when I can) because it takes my breath away. Is it dangerous? Yes, but not as dangerous as the safety Nazis would lead you to believe (if you do it right). I've driven multiple times 155 mph (249 km/h) on the racetrack. And it took my breath away. And, yes, it was a bit dangerous. And I'll plead the fifth if asked how fast I've driven on public roads. But, believe me, I picked those places for their safety (and lack of cops).

(Ironically, the safest roads--road wise--to drive fast on, the interstates, are the heaviest patrolled. They are safe when not crowded, not when busy and now days it's hard to find an empty stretch of interstate. Maybe in Wyoming.)

So I suggest living, not worrying about dying.

Do you live? How? Tell me in the comments below.

Car Review: 2018 Dodge Challenger R/T

Yes, it has a HEMI(The car might have been a 2019 model. It only had around 3,500 miles on it.)

Last weekend I traveled to Maryland for a family wedding. When I was arranging this trip, I decided to have a little fun and reserve a Dodge Challenger for my rental car (we paid for the airline tickets with miles, so we had extra in the travel budget). I assumed I'd get one with the V-6 engine. That has 306 horsepower which is good but not a whole lot. Plus, after renting a Mustang V-6 a few years ago that was supposed to have about 300 horsepower, it didn't feel as if it had 300 horsepower, so I assumed rental car companies "de-tuned" engines to produce less power.

So I was surprised when I walked to the car and there was a "HEMI" designation on the front fender. The HEMI is a V-8 engine known for making power, in this case 372 horsepower (with an automatic transmission; with a manual it makes 375). The color was unique, I thought, a very pretty burgundy except in sunlight it looked more red. My wife determined through Google that it was called "Octane Red."

If this car was de-tuned, it wasn't de-tuned much. It had a large amount of power. I didn't get to
5.7 L HEMI V-8explore that power much because of traffic (lots and lots of traffic). But I did once in rural Maryland "floor it" and the car accelerated nicely. And I once accidentally chirped the rear tires.

The interior was comfortable for two. But if more than that, it was difficult to put adults in the back seat (in a nor'easter downpour no less). But the sound of the car was melodious. Even at idle the exhaust sound was lovely. When accelerating, it was orgasmic.

The engine is the same 5.7 liter V-8 that was in my old Chrysler 300C. But with this car, it had less mass to move (even though the Challenger is built on the same frame as the old 300C). The interior gauges were both modern and retro. It had one thing I like in cars, an indicator that your headlights are on while driving.

But there are some downsides. The aforementioned worthless backseat for adults is one. To put things in the trunk, you have to lift them very high. And one of our suitcases was big and heavy.

The eight-speed transmission was good most of the time, but when you were cruising, it went to 8th gear to save fuel (I assume). If you pushed on the gas to accelerate, it would lug the engine before it would downshift. This was disconcerting in traffic when you needed to respond quickly. And thanks to the wide C-pillar (there were no B-pillars), there was a horrible blind spot. I felt as if I were taking my life into my hands nearly every time I changed lanes.

But, over all, I enjoyed driving the Challenger R/T. It was fun. And that exhaust note was so bewitching.

About driving in Maryland. On roads with more than one lane in each direction, Maryland drivers tend to do about 70 mph no matter the speed limit, and I saw 55 and 65 mph speed limits. The one exception was on the 50 mph speed limited Bay Bridge where they tended to do about 60.

In rural, eastern Maryland (the "Eastern Shore") on two-lane roads, locals tended to go 5 mph under the speed limit or, at best the actual limit.

The Huskies are 3-1

A couple of good things happened in sports over the weekend. 1) The Mariners were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. And B) the University of Washington Huskies beat Arizona State to move to 3-1 on the season.

Even the Seahawks won!

I was on the eastern side of Maryland (the "Eastern Shore") for a wedding this weekend (more on that later) so this is why you're getting this now instead of Sunday morning.

Being in the Eastern time zone, the game started at 10:30 PM. It went to 1:30 AM.

The Huskies got the ball first (the ASU Sun Devils won the toss and deferred, as it common these days), and on their first play tried a trick play. It was intercepted by Arizona State. This put the Sun Devils in the red zone. On a 4th and goal, they scored. Not an auspicious start to the game. I was worried.

You see, for some reason, the Huskies have trouble beating the Sun Devils. Last year in Tempe we lost. The announcers pointed out that of the last 11 meetings by these teams, ASU has won 10 (or something like that, it was late and I was tired).

But then the Husky offense took the field and between Myles Gaskin's running and Jake Browning's throwing, they marched down the field for a touchdown. The ASU defense could do little to stop the Husky offense throughout the game. The ASU offense made some good plays but only got one more touchdown in the fourth quarter and the rest of their scores were field goals. The final score of the game was 20-27. Not a blow-out, but a win is a win.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12

Washington State played USC, and barely lost 36-39. That's the Cougar's first loss of the season (and,
I think, their first Pac-12 game). Stanford beat Oregon, but had to go into overtime to do it.

The Polls

 In the AP poll that came out Sunday, Stanford stayed at #7. For some reason Washington dropped to #11 despite their win (Auburn is now #10). Oregon moved up one to #19. And for some reason, California, which has yet to play any conference games (they had a bye this week) is #24.

Next Week

Next weekend the Huskies play their final non-conference game, taking on #20 BYU (the second ranked team we'll play). They play at home so that is helpful. The game is at 5:30 PDT on Fox.

Stanford plays Notre Dame. Both teams are undefeated. Utah will be playing Washington State in Pullman. And Oregon plays California in Berkeley.