Dribbling Ink

(My wife and brother-in-law carved this. I don't touch the inside of pumpkins.) (I'm not big on Halloween, but I enjoy autumn. We planted four  mums to celebrate.) (I made a homemade chocolate chip pizza. Too bad I can't serve this to trick-or-treaters.)

Somehow I got behind and missed the first two episodes of The Walking Dead Season 3. Last night I decided to catch up and watch the newest episode, “Walk with Me.” Like everyone else in the world, I’m glad the crew finally left Hershel’s farm, the prison looks promising (although it could turn into The Farm 2.0), and it’s nice to see a little more action after last season bogged down—although I am a fan of an in-depth exploration of the philosophical questions raised by a zombie apocalypse. Episode 3 summary (not really any spoilers): A new villain, The Governor, and a new location, Woodburry, are introduced. Both are hiding something that the audience will learn in time. Andrea is into The Governor, Michonne just wants her weapons back, and Merle finally makes his long foreshadowed return. There are a few more details, but this covers the essentials. It was kind of a boring episode that was essential for setting up the rest of the season. However, instead of offering an a...

Arkansas football has bottomed out for 2012. After a last-second 30-27 loss at the hands of the Ole Miss Rebels—the perennial whipping dogs of the SEC West—the Razorbacks truly can’t achieve a lower level of ineptitude this season. Of course, Jeff Long could always rehire John L. Smith as the next head coach. Anyway, let’s just get right to the good part. Ten observations from the Arkansas-Ole Miss game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas: 10. The music selection still sucks. Apparently so do the speakers now. Except for “Go DJ” when Dennis Johnson was about to return a kickoff, which is almost too easy to even be considered clever, the music was predictably outdated and lifeless. Might as well play “Cotton-Eye Joe.” 9. None of the technology at WMS is ever checked before the game. I have never been to a game in Little Rock in which everything worked properly. This time the video board was glitching the entire time and, predictably—there’s that word again—there...

Bye weeks are fickle monsters. A week that should be neutral in theory never quite works that way. The bye week always creates collateral damage. Sometimes the fallout helps your team and sometimes it hurts your team. That’s because college football is dynamic—everything changes from week to week, which is why the BCS will continue to thrive no matter how many playoff games are added at the end of the season. Bye weeks also provide clarity. When the hectic race from fall camp to the beginning of the season to winning or losing games finally reaches a respite, players, coaches, and fans get a chance to reflect on months of preparation, expectations, and execution. Thus, after a week of washing my hands of Arkansas’s dreadful start to 2012 and watching other SEC teams more closely, I had an epiphany: Arka-Tenne-Burn-y. What is Arka-Tenne-Burn-y? Exactly what it sounds like: the shared state of four programs—Arkansas, Tennessee, Auburn, and Kentucky—that aren’t as different as their f...

Welcome to your Tuesday viewing update—better known as the night after baseball died in Arkansas for 2012 (the Cardinals got beat down by the Giants in Game 7), the night after the final presidential debate (this election can’t be resolved quickly enough), and the night of crappy singing and dancing shows like The X-Factor , Dancing with the Stars , and The Voice . Without Sons of Anarchy and Pretty Little Liars , Tuesdays would be a lost cause. However, don’t fret; it’s Arkansas State’s night to be on primetime on ESPN . The Red Wolves (4-3 overall, 2-1 conference) travel to Cajun Field to take on LA-Lafayette (4-2, 2-1) for a key matchup in the Sun Belt. Both teams are chasing those mighty Warhawks of ULM, who are undefeated in Sun Belt play. The game will be aired on ESPN2 , beginning at 8 PM ET. I believe I read that ULL is a 4.5 point favorite. I hope my alma mater has a solid showing—it’s very important to take advantage of these situations. With that being said, I expect ...

Tonight is Game 7 of the NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants. Winner takes all—all being a trip to MLB’s greatest prize, the World Series. Neither of these teams are strangers to postseason play: the Cardinals won the World Series last year and the Giants the year before that. It’s the Rally Squirrel versus the Rally Monkey. The Midwest versus the West Coast. A violet state versus a blue state (don’t worry if this political reference makes no sense). One team’s season will end tonight. The losing team will be banished for five months, unable to call itself the champion, until the quest starts anew in 2013, when the season begins in April. There is nothing more exciting in sports than an elimination game. Every aspect of the game is exaggerated. Nothing goes unnoticed. Every detail matters. Hyperbole abounds. First pitch is slated for some time after 7 PM central time. (Via Forbes.com) Fittingly, the third and final presidential debate is...

(Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) It’s finally that week, the one that rolls around once a season in college and professional football: the bye week. Coming off a 49-7 beat down of Kentucky, the Arkansas Razorbacks have a free week to get healthy and prepare for a critical stretch of games. (If the Hogs want to salvage 2012, they have to win their next two games against Ole Miss and Tulsa. Assuming they win those games, the Hogs would have to beat one of three top-12 ranked teams remaining on the schedule—at #7 South Carolina, at #12 Mississippi State, and home against #6 LSU—to be bowl eligible.) Usually during bye weeks I pay special attention to my secondary team, Arkansas State. This year, however, provides Arkansans with a special twist: the dreaded double-bye weekend. A quick thought: Maybe ASU should schedule a game at War Memorial during Arkansas’s bye week each year. I’m not trying to be facetious; I actually think this is a good idea. There are a lot of football f...

With the Razorbacks searching for their next head football coach, I’ve heard a lot of people talking about the positives and negatives of the state of Arkansas. It’s an often-cited fact that Arkansas doesn’t have a professional sports team, which makes the Razorbacks the state’s pro team by default and consequently increases the attractiveness of the football head coaching position. (I don’t think there’s any question that Arkansas would struggle to support a professional sports team—the population just isn’t large enough. I think there would be a core of rabid fans, but not enough casual fans to make a consistent profit. And professional sports teams are all about the money.) This led me to consider an important question: If the state of Arkansas had to vote on which professional sports team to adopt as its own, which team would Arkansans pick? Regional proximity was one of the most important aspects I considered, so I included how many miles each team is from Little Rock...

I left Northeast Arkansas over four years ago and a lot has changed around the Jonesboro-Paragould area. However, one thing has been consistent for my entire life: Arkansas State University football has been drowning in mediocrity. In the last couple of years, though, ASU has made a real push to improve its football program. In 2011 ASU took a chance on its new head coach by promoting its young offensive coordinator, Hugh Freeze, who eventually led them to a 10-2 record in the regular season, a conference championship, and a bowl game. Of course, Freeze didn’t waste any time turning his success at ASU into a new contract in the SEC at Ole Miss. I can’t blame the guy, but once again ASU was just a stepping stone. The Red Wolves could have easily been happy with 2011 and faded back into Sun Belt mediocrity; it’s what I expected my alma mater to do. However, ASU replaced one offensive guru with another, this time one with a national championship under his belt as an offensiv...

My red-headed friend—his name’s Justin, by the way (he told me he was going to dye his hair after he read my blog), so let’s call him by name instead—isn’t giving up on his argument that the College Years is actually better than the original Saved by the Bell . (If you have Netflix, you also know the show had another previous incarnation, Good Morning, Mrs. Bliss— there’s no defending this show.) After defending his position to his wife—if a man can defend himself to his wife, I ain’t got a shot—he reiterated his claim to me. I have to admit that he has a point: the unresolved storylines in the original SbtB are maddening. With Justin’s help, I’ve decided to examine all the unresolved storylines that we could remember and try to make sense of them. Jessie Spano was a drug addict… for one day. As Justin pointed out, I think it is impossible to be hooked on prescription or illegal drugs for just one day. Of course, like my knowledge of gambling and wild animals, my knowle...

(This post is going to be short. I’m at my fourth house in five days to write and upload my blog. My friends and family are probably ready for me to go back to Little Rock.) I’ve never been much of a hunter. Most of the qualities hunting seemingly entails, like being aggressive or sneaky (maybe I just imagine that you need these), go against the nature of my personality. I like to be at peace with my surroundings. I know, I know: I don’t need a lecture about the pros or cons of hunting. I’ve heard it all before; the majority of my extended family consists of avid hunters and I have nothing against it. Moreover, I always enjoy when deer season rolls around because it means I get to spend time with my dad. Growing up it wasn’t always that way. I looked forward to autumn for a different reason: it meant basketball season was near. While my dad spent his Saturday mornings in the deer woods, I was always practicing basketball, whether in the driveway or at school. Looking back I re...