(OU FOOTBALL DISCLAIMER: the first section of this post is about OU football. If you're not a Sooner-born-and-Sooner-bred-and-when-I-die-I'll-be-a-Sooner-dead kind of person, you might want to move on to the next section. Remember, just look for the giant capital letter at the start of the paragraph.)
The Sooners are for real.
Man oh man, after another incredible game, it appears the Sooners are for real. Sure, this Miami team is far removed from the amazing steamroller that used to come out of the U in recent years, but it's still Miami. Given their history, given OU's history with them, just about anything could have happened in this game. However, Sam Bradford, Malcolm Kelly (wearing my #4 jersey), and the rest of the Crimson and Cream fairly destroyed the Hurricanes (I'll forbear using the ridiculous "blew them away" cliches all the media-types are jumping on now). Miami had one opportunity to keep it close, with the Sooners stuck in the mud in the late 2nd quarter after Reggie Smith's fumble return for a touchdown made the score 21-3. But the OU put it into low, locked the rear diff, and dug out with some serious power, behind an ultra-stout defensive effort that permitted a touchdown to Miami, but only after Miami had 7 plays inside the 3-yard line to get it.
There were still issues to resolve, like some poor tackling here and there on defense that gave up more yards than should have been. There was also a few dropped passes, particularly by the running backs. And speaking of the running backs, the ground game didn't seem very effective this week, despite the great blocking on the line. I credit that to Miami's defense keying on the ground game, more than ineffective running. I think most teams are going to take that approach this year, since we have a young quarterback. Let me tell you this, though; by mid-season, after continuing to watch Bradford pile up yards and points, they'll soon learn the error of their ways. In fact, Bradford still leads the NCAA in completion percentage and pass efficiency rating. With the accuracy he's shown, that's not surprising. He might not be as accurate as Josh Heupel always seemed to be, but he's pretty close, and at least as accurate as Jason White. He's been threading the needle pretty regularly, and again, there's that completion percentage to bear out his ability.
Utah State is next up, then Tulsa, then Colorado for the Big 12 opener. It doesn't appear OU will be really tested until OU-Texas on October 6th. Personally, if OU continues on this path, I'm hoping for another 65-13 whuppin' by the Sooners when that day comes. (I'll have the Tivo warmed up and ready.
Oh, and one more thing: OU has vaulted to #3 in the latest AP Poll, while holding steady as a strong #5 in the Coaches' Poll. BOOMER SOONER!!
After months of hot, dry weather, it seems that fall just blew in yesterday. It was very cool, but sunny, most of the day, and the wind blew all day long. The boys went out and spent most of the day playing football (and various other things) out in the backyard, so it was still very nice. Not so much today; we woke up to 50 degrees, overcast skies, and light rain. You'd think it was late October here, not mid-September. I like this weather, because it's a lot like Oklahoma is in the fall and winter, but unfortunately, it's Colorado, which means it will only get colder and snowier as we move closer to winter. We'll see how the pattern holds, but I'm guessing we'll have our first snow by mid-October this year.
Have any of you ever replaced your car's brake pads? I got my first taste of that this weekend, as I spent about 4 hours total work time replacing the front-left pads and rotor on Heidi's minivan. I got it done and everything seems to be working just fine, which makes me very happy. I took it for an extended test drive last night to make sure all was well before I turned the keys back over to Heidi. It was good to do it, because now I know how it goes, but I always seem to forget some iron-clad rules of working on cars:
1. There will always at least one task in the whole job that takes 10 times longer than you expect or than the documentation specifies (or both). When I replaced the Rover's fuel pump a couple of years back, everything was smooth and quick, except for getting the pump out of the tank. There's a convenient hatch for removal, but nothing and no one tells you that the pump is so tightly seated with its seal, that it takes a crane to pull it out. It took me 45 minutes of the two hours I spent on the whole job, just to get the pump out. In the case of the minivan's brakes, everything was relatively smooth, if not slow because I was being VERY deliberate. But refilling the brake reservoir was the killer this time, because Ford's engineers apparently believe you'll never have to do so. This belief is indicated by the location of the reservoir back under the windshield, not in the open where it would be easily filled.
2. When you work on a car, you will injure at least one finger so that it bleeds. (Exception: if you're only changing the oil, the likelihood of finger injury is reduced by 50%.) This time it was my thumb get smashed into a wheel stud when my wrench slipped. When I was replacing the ignition wires in the Rover, it was banging my knuckle into the engine block while I was running the wires around the headers. When I replaced the thermostat in my Mom's BMW convertible, I had to remove the cooling fan...yes, it doesn't really take much imagination to come up with what happened there. Injury is inevitable, so keep the Band-Aids handy.
3. Fluid spills are likewise inevitable, regardless of how hard you try to avoid them. The brake system stayed sealed, so you would expect that nothing would spill. However, I needed to top off the brake system and of course, the placement of the reservoir increased the likelihood of a spill a hundredfold. And it happened, right on schedule. The bummer is that brake fluid is about the most dangerous fluid in your car, unless it's gasoline; brake fluid will take the paint and finish off your car, so you have to be really careful with it. Fortunately, I only spilled it on the concrete in the garage. I wear nitrile gloves both to keep my hands clean and protect against the nasty chemicals you work with in auto work. Nitrile gloves are supposed to be more puncture-resistant, and since you're banging your hands a lot, that helps. I usually go through 2-10 pairs over the course of a single job, depending on how long and involved it is and how many times I get called away. Non-medical grade gloves are available at most auto parts stores and run about $5 for a box of 50 or so.
4. A torque wrench is a good thing to have, but as long as you're smart about tightening your bolts, you can get by without one. One of my dad's favorite stories is from his teen years; he was working at a gas station/garage, where he was helping a guy work on a car. The guy was screwing a bolt back in, while warning Dad about not making them too tight. No sooner had the words escaped from his mouth, than SNAP!! Off came the bolt head. In about 30 instances where I have done automotive work in my life, I've only snapped off a bolt once. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed here.)
5. Do your research before you get started, and keep your documentation handy at all times. If I'm going to work on a car, I make double-darned sure that I know as much about what I have to do as possible so that I don't run into trouble (and even if I do run into trouble, I can back-track and get out of it). This holds true even if you are a pro. When I had the Rover, I purchased an official shop manual early on, at a cost of about $150. It was totally worth it, though, in the amount of money I saved by not taking it to a mechanic, and in the trouble it saved me while I was working on it.
Donovan had his first flag football game this weekend, and I'm so proud of him. He did really well, even if he is still learning about putting out his best effort. He had two "tackles" and ran better than I expected. He also has a tendency to "accidentally" fall down during and after plays, but he managed to keep control of that, too. He did really well, and he's enjoying it greatly. He's also hyper-interested in football now, watching it with me all the time. Connor is interested now, too, and he wants to play flag football in the spring, and maybe move to tackle football in the fall. We're going to have to work on that one; he's still kind of small, and he's involved with karate and Cub Scouts, so I probably won't get his mom's blessing. That means he'll probably have to miss every other week, since he'll only be playing when he's at my house. They're both definitely getting to that age, though, where sports becomes a lot more interesting. I'm happy for that.
Well, that's it for today. Thanks for reading along.
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