Book Log 2008 #50: Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon

Two wanderers in Central Asia get caught up in a power struggle in Khazaria in this novella, which was originally appeared in serial form in the New York Times Magazine. I didn't know it was published that way, not that it really matters as it's still a fun story with colorful characters and plenty of action. It'd be a nice way to kill a rainy day, and works well for commuting, too.

The Blogalicious College Football Games of the Week

Tuesday - Western Michigan at Ball State. Western Michigan is 9-2? Really? Too bad they're in the MAC division that doesn't suck, otherwise they'd have clinched their trip to the title game back in October. Score: Ball State 38, Western Michigan 17

Thursday - Texas A&M at Texas. A&M gets to go into Austin at a time where the Longhorns desperately need to prove themselves so they can top Oklahoma and Texas Tech in the BCS and earn a shot to play Missouri for the Big 12 title. And you thought that a Thanksgiving bloodbath only involves turkeys. Score: Texas 82, Texas A&M 9

Friday (early) - West Virginia at Pittsburgh. The Backyard Brawl may be my favorite name for a rivalry game, though this list has given me some new ones to consider. Clean, Old Fashioned Hate (Georgia-Georgia Tech) and Brawl of the Wild (Montana-Montana State) stand out. As far as the actual game goes, I expect both teams to play a hard-fought contest while trying to figure out how they hell they both lost to Cincinnati. Score: West Virginia 21, Pitt 17

Friday (late) - Fresno State at Boise State. I mentioned a few weeks ago the Fresno State was going to win this game and screw up our shot at a BCS-buster. Now I'm tacking the other way, as it'd be amusing to have Boise State and Ball State as undefeated conference champions who are ranked higher than the teams who win the Big East and ACC. More ammo for President Obama's playoffs!. Score: Boise State 37, Fresno State 20

Saturday (early) - Georgia Tech at Georgia. Speaking of Clean, Old Fashioned Hate, nothing would sum up the Bulldogs' season than dropping this game. It's almost quaint to think that they were such a big pre-season favorite. Thankfully for them, Tech is as consistent as any team in the ACC, which leaves the door pretty wide open. Score: Georgia 38, Georgia Tech 14

Saturday (mid-afternoon) - Florida State at Florida. So what is it with Florida and rivalry games? First there's the Georgia game, which lost its "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" name, and now there's the FSU game, which apparently has no nickname based on the game notes at the UF website. The list calls it the Sunshine Showdown, which makes me think that no name is the better choice. You'd think an educational institution as fine as the University of Florida would put its top thinkers to work on this. Score: Florida 57, Florida State 14

Saturday (night) - Notre Dame at USC. How big of a win does USC need to not actually lose ground in the BCS by beating the Irish? Triple digits? Done. Score: USC 147, Notre Dame 2

Last week: 5-4
Season: 54-35

Book Log 2008 #49: How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein

I occasionally have good ideas. Pork nog. The home nuclear power plant. And, many years ago, a book about the geographic oddities one finds in the US, such as the small notch on the Massachusetts-Connecticut border, or the city that's part of Washington state even though the only land it's connected to is British Columbia. But, as with most of my good ideas, they get lost in the ether or banned by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At least, until I ran across this book at the library.

Its approach is broader than the one I'd have taken, as it covers all 50 states (and DC) and discusses how each of them got the borders they have today. There's also a chapter preceding the state entries that talks about treaties and other events that set common borders so that it doesn't have to be mentioned in detail for each state involved (for example, the Western states that border Canada to the north).

The one semi-major problem is that the states are presented alphabetically rather than regionally, which can cause some problems if you're trying to flip between a state entry and the ones for neighboring states. Going regional would create some arbitrary decisions and at least a little overlap, but I think it'd have been more effective from a reading standpoint. I'd also have liked better maps, but the ones that are there are adequate.

Overall, though, a great book for geography nerds, with a good dash of history thrown in to boot.

The Blogalicious College Football Games of the Week

Tuesday - Northern Illinois at Kent State. This game is not televised, but I assume is on Tuesday to set up next Tuesday's NIU-Navy broadcast. NIU will not play a weekend game this month, which I assume is a prelude to an all mid-week MAC schedule in 2009. I suppose I'm for it if it reduces the amount of World Series of Poker that's aired. Score: Northern Illinois 31, Kent State 10

Wednesday - Ball State at Central Michigan. Finally, the clash of the titans that's been anticpated for weeks, a gridiron slugfest to once and for all determine the champion of the MAC West. Be still my heart! Score: Ball State 23, Central Michigan 14

Thursday - Miami at Georgia Tech. While I'm sure it doesn't work out this way, if you look at the ACC standings it appears that only Duke has been eliminated from winning the Coastal division. I'm too lazy to go through the schedules to see who really has a shot; let's hope Miami can bail me out and clarify things. Score: Miami 28, Georgia Tech 20

Friday - Fresno State at San Jose State. You'd rather I talk about one of the two MAC games also on Friday? While I can't say this game really matters (outside of the loser getting knocked out of bowl contention), the real issue is that, somehow, Fresno is going to derail Boise State's BCS drive and screw the conference. But we'll save that for next week. Score: San Jose State 27, Fresno State 24

Saturday (early) - The Citadel at Florida. Giving Thanks for Cupcakes, Part I. The best part about this match-up is the Florida game notes, which leads off by noting that a majority of the current top 10 have played 1-AA teams this year, and that Texas Tech has played two. They then go on to note that after playing 1-AA Western Carolina in 2006, they actually went up in the rankings. Good that they got the propaganda out front. Score: Florida 77, The Citadel 3

Saturday (mid-afternoon) - Washington at Washington State. The football game that will set the sport back decades. The over/under on headlines that make a pun using the game's Apple Cup name and some form of rotting is 1.3 million. You should still take the over, and even then I don't think the astonishingly excremental nature of this game would be adequately captured. This is the sort of game someone should get Roger Ebert to review, if only to give North a break. I know ties are no longer possible in college football, but I can see this one ending that way out of sheer disinterest. And the best thing is that both teams have a game after this one, so they can spread their putridity into the holidays. Score: Washington 2, Washington State 2 (called after 137 OTs)

Saturday Mid-Afternoon Extra! Cal Poly at Wisconsin. Giving Thanks for Cupcakes, Part II. I didn't find the game notes for the Badgers (truth be told, I didn't look all that hard), but I'd love to have seen the section where they'd try to argue that winning this game would make them a better Motor City Bowl rep than the winner of Iowa/Minnesota. That may be putting the cart before the horse, as Cal Poly was the team that opened the season by beating San Diego State (who are, admittedly, a different brand of awful by an order of magnitude from Wisconsin). Score: Wisconsin 49, Cal Poly 14

Saturday (night) - Texas Tech at Oklahoma. Finally, decent football. I find it amusing that TCU is the only team to have held the Sooners under 45 points in a game this season (Sooners topped the Horned Frogs 35-10). The Sooners have also topped 60 points in their last two games, albeit against lesser opponents. I have to think this is when the Red Raiders finally fall, though I expect it to go much like the Texas game. Just with more points. Score: Oklahoma 69, Texas Tech 63

Sunday: Connecticut at South Florida. Do you think that Mark Mangino looks at the game tape from the South Florida game and wonders how he lost to them? Especially after the Bulls lost to Rutgers 46-19 this past week? UConn, meanwhile, just wants the win so they can get some sweet Meineke Car Care Bowl action, even if they do have to play Wake or UNC. Either way, this should be one useless game. Score: UConn 11, South Florida 10

Last week: 5-2
Season: 49-31

Our Fox affiliate, whose news department hasn't found a three day old story that it can't repackage as current news, had some sort of report last night about hypermiling. If hypermiling sounds familiar, it's because it was big news in, what, June?

I suppose they were reacting to news that the New Oxford American Dictionary dubbed hypermiling word of the year status for 2008. Personally, I'd have gone with staycation, and am surprised that it didn't get off the short list. I've not heard any of the other finalists in day to day parlance other than toxic debt, which is kind of a stupid choice for a finalist.

Still, way to be on the ball, Fox 25. I'm looking forward to your upcoming report about Hurricane Gustav.

As you may imagine, scoring the election contest is a bit dicey, hence the delay. Which I know is killing the half-dozen of you who actually participated. At some point I'll score what I can and see if the outstanding races would matter. I'll try to get this wrapped up by Inauguration Day.

The Blogalicious College Football Games of the Week

Tuesday - Ball State at Miami (Ohio). Second straight Tuesday night game for the RedHawks, third straight loss. Score: Ball State 37, Miami (Ohio) 3

Wednesday - Central Michigan at Northern Illinois. A match-up fraught with MAC division title implications, or at least as fraught as anything involving the MAC can be that didn't involve Randy Moss' tenure at Marshall (I know, they weren't in the MAC at the time, go with me here, I have nothing). A win here and the Chippewas play for the MAC West title against Ball State next Wednesday. Nothing like a relatively important college football game on a Wednesday. Score: Central Michigan 31, Northern Illinois 17

Thursday - Virginia Tech at Miami. The winner here keeps pace with North Carolina in the ACC Coastal division. That sentence tells you everything you need to know about the sort of year the ACC is having. Score: Virginia Tech 13, Miami 12

Friday - Cincinnati at Louisville. Speaking of conferences that no one wants to win, this match-up appears to have significant Big East implications, but the way everyone is playing you could have a five way tie at 4-3. The Orange Bowl must be looking forward to another ACC-Big East showdown. Score: Cincinnati 24, Louisville 20

Saturday (early) - Northwestern at Michigan. Northwestern doesn't fare well against Michigan. They've not beaten the Wovlerines since 2000, and haven't won in Ann Arbor since 1995 (and before that? 1959!). On the plus side, Michigan hasn't been this bad since LBJ was in office, so if there was a time to chalk up a win, it's now. Score: Northwestern 17, Michigan 13

Saturday (mid-afternoon) - Boise State at Idaho. It's games like this that'll keep the Broncos out of the BCS, which is unfortunate give that they're more fun to watch than any team in the ACC or Big East. And while she's not personally responsible for this one, Idaho alum Sarah Palin gets to be connected to her second blowout in ten days. Score: Boise State 61, Idaho 2

Saturday (night) - Tulsa at Houston. Without any Texas Tech to liven up our screens, Tulsa is your next best bet for offense, as they lead the nation with a 52 points per game average. It'll pay the Golden Hurricane to be wary, as the last time Houston played a team ranked 23rd in the nation they won, besting East Carolina 41-24. I don't expect a repeat. Score: Tulsa 47, Houston 30

Last week: 4-3
Season: 44-29