The men in my family took my niece to see the old alma mater take on Brooklyn. I don't even know what they call this rivalry these days. The Backyard Brawl? The Battle of Biddulph? All I know is Rhodes is dominating this series lately and won last night, 64-14. That's right they scored 64 points! Would have been 70 if they had a kicker or were not just 4 of 8 on 2-point conversions.

First of all, it's a pretty cheap night. $5 to get in, pop and pizza squares were a dollar and it's $1.50 for popcorn. But there seems to be a malaise hanging over the football games at Brooklyn. Clearly, the kids who go in don't even care about the game as they congregate and do their own thing seemingly miles apart from the game. The cheerleaders don't have any focus and don't seem too thrilled to participate. They have a mascot without any direction. The band doesn't seem fired up. If I were an administrator at the school, I'd be embarrassed, or at least concerned, about the overall production.

Shockingly, Rhodes actually had fans show up on their side. They have a band this year, as well. And the guys really play hard on the field. Seems like some good things happening there.

But, much like last year's game we attended, Rhodes had big plays all night. I mean plays you wouldn't think would result in 6 points. They led, 20-0, at the end of the first quarter and it was inconceivably 40-0 at the half. Rhodes only put the ball in the air three times that I recall. A stupid backward pass on the first play of the game that failed and resulted in a turnover. A beautiful two-point conversion that made it 20-0. And a failed pass attempt on a 4th down play late in the fourth quarter. Otherwise, they must have run for at least 500 yards. Seriously. Their big running back, Wall, totaled 116 yards on his first two carries and had TD runs of 94, 36, 55 and 3 yards.

Here were the TDs:

A 94-yard run (6-0)
A 64-yard run (12-0)
A 36-yard run (20-0)
A 70-yard punt return (28-0)
A 10-yard run (34-0)
A 55-yard run (40-0)
A 3-yard run (46-0)
A 15-yard run (52-0)
A 45-yard fumble return (58-7)
A 65-yard kick return to finish the game (64-14)

Needless to say, lots of fun to watch.

Meal of Links

Irene must be important because I see Wolf Blitzer on my TV. No Geraldo sighting yet, my favorite part of hurricanes. Details here. Mail was delivered in Virginia Beach today. Kudos.

Now I find this interesting. Fox, yes, Fox, the big network, will start showing tape-delayed EPL games on a few Sundays they don't have football doubleheaders. And on Super Bowl Sunday, Chelsea and Manchester United will be on Fox that morning. As long as Michael Strahan makes no appearances and my drinks are cold, that will be the start to a great day.

Do you have any of the !00 Most Sought-After Out of Print Books. Some interesting titles, but I don't have any of them. Although, I thought I had a copy of "Cards As Weapons' by Ricky Jay laying around here, but have his other book, "Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women". That's out of print, but not as popular, I guess.

How to discover new music. I still haven't had time to comprehend Spotify, but I will.

More "Louie". Although his Afghanistan looked a lot like the Korea of "M*A*S*H".

"Say Something Nice"



Upping the antihero. "Breaking Bad', "Psych" and "Dexter".

Exercise Yard

Ric Flair not only has trouble inside the ring, he's got huge issues outside the squared circle. A long history of failed marriages and financial turmoil.

Hey, my favorite sign from last week's show: "It doesn't matter what my sign says".

Visitor

3 Down: Country that eliminated the United States at the last two World Cups (5 letters) Answer: Ghana