Crabb Bits: Springville Wins 1A Title, Hawkeye Failure, Other BS

With March comes the promise of warmer weather and the forthcoming signs of spring, which means we go from living in the ice age, to mowing the grass, and earwigs and other assorted bugs.  Always gotta be a price for everything don't it?  Plus I'm sure we will get to deal with our new neighbors and their kids and their barking dog.  Always seems that once the old neighbors move out, you get ones that are a little less considerate.  And they always seem to get a annoying dog that barks all the time.  Plus I'm seeing a bit more plastic water bottles and such in our ditch, will somebody learn how to use a damn waste can?!?

You probably know by now that our small town team Springville beat Newell/Fonda for the 1A Girls Title.  I was reserving this spot for the girl Marion team but they fell short so on Friday night I was watching the hometown Orioles win although they had like 25 turnovers.  Although NF had more speedier girls and a more pesky press, turns out that Springville had taller girls.  In other words, size matters and the girls did win.   I like the announcer calling Springville a two gas station town and nothing more.  They do have a bank, a meat market, a restaurant, two bars, a VFW, and a post office whose continues to give us the wrong damn mail every month.  For the fifth straight month, I had to return the damn Magazine up there and try to explain to somebody with ears and a brain that whoever sorts out the mail should get their eyeballs checked out.  The address is 224 and it's Smith, not 220 and Dan Weber DOES NOT LIVE THERE.  You think somebody would get it straight but I'm sure around this time I'll bet you odds that we get the damn magazine again.

You can tell it's getting to be spring that the basketball season is just about over. The Iowa Hawkeyes sure have stunk up the tube most of February and yes we knew that they would be overmatched since we have something like 9 players on scholarship and Tyler Smith left for Tennessee and helping them into the top five.  Outside of Tony Freeman and somedays Cyrus Tate, the Hawks played great defense but had no bit of offense whatsoever.  In fact I don't think The Hawks ever scored more than 50 points a game.  But then again, Todd Lickliter didn't have squat to work with after the departure of Steve (flop) Alford whose managed to do wonders with New Mexico this year and probably thinks he should be coach of the year.  The Hawks were awful this week, blowing yet another lead to a depleted Penn State squad and didn't bother to show up against Illinois this week.  Nothing worse than going from 20 wins to 20 losses in two years but then again Alford didn't recruit very well and most dropped out.  I know Carlton Reed is now playing for Northern Iowa.  Oh well, I'm ready for baseball, the Cubs seem for greatness this year, we'll see how that goes.

This month, once the snow goes away there may be the spring annual Mad City run for the bargains and since we haven't been there in a half a year I'm sure we can find a few things.  In a era to which cd music stores are disappearing, Madison still remains one of the best places to find things.  But also in a era of even higher gas prices, it's for certain we won't be doing this three times like we did the past couple years.  Though Bush can't be fault for all of this, I think that the traders and investors and speculators and good old Big Oil trying to get everybody into the poor house.  I still hope to go to Seattle again this year, or even the desert but with four dollar a gallon out there in Blythe CA this summer, it's not going to be a priority.  The desert is a beautiful place to go see, but how anybody can live there and afford is beyond me.  So it's wait and see and decide if I really want to risk another cavaity search at the airport just to fly anywhere.
And finally before I go take my shirt off and go outside to enjoy the 45 degree weather today, I want to send birthday wishes to my Aunt Cindy who turns fifty tomorrow.  Yep, I'm surprised you made it this far too, maybe in three years I'll join you in that wonderful age bracket.  I'm sure by then this body would have officially fallen apart by that time with all the sneezing and constant nose problems and bodily functions that seem to have a mind of their own and further pissing me off.  Can't tell you how many times I sneezed in a five minute period yesterday before taking three Benedryl and half a bottle of Lutetium for the other problems.  Yop, getting old sure rocks.

For you, not me.

Seems to me that Robert Christgau is getting old and too gritty to enjoy rock music as if he seems to be reviewing more rap and hip hop that is out there.  We all seem to disagree on his choice of A albums but we do have a big disagreement on Porter Wagoner's swansong album.  While I called it a final stand from a country icon, RC's Poo Poos it and calls it a dud.  What the fuck does he know anyway?  I can see where Mark Prindle hates him though I still hold out hope that I might be able to agree on Christgau's recommendations but I'm not about to start up a rap collection just to see if he's right anyway.
Well the government can now throwaway that bunch of shite they called the inflation rate for oil, it went over 103 dollars to do that this afternoon.  Don't know what damn drugs Dubya's taking but I believe we are in a big recession and going down further.  Mission accomplished asshole.  Four dollar gas this summer, Check.  Another bummer in the summer.

And finally, got to see Elizabeth Cook on GAC's Opry Sat. nite and she was a hoot.  And she did a sweet version of Sunday Morning done by Lou Reed and the Velvets although being a traditionist myself, could have done without the fiddle but that's just me.  Nancy Griffith calls her this generation's Loretta Lynn.  And is funny as heck too.  Rest assured that GAC will bring back country's answer to American Idol Carrie Underwood in a couple weeks so she can oversing some more.  I donno, something about CU, that doesn't add up, there's seems to be a teeny bit of fakery on her part when I see her videos or hear her songs.  When she sings Stand By Your Man, all I hear is Whitney Houston.
:-P