The most entertaining team in college football

Last season the University of Washington Huskies football team went 0-12 and were truly terrible. This year they are 3-4 and playing well at times. More importantly, however, they are easily the most enjoyable and unpredictable football team in the entire country. Highlights so far include:

• Beating USC 16-13 on a last second field goal. At the time, USC was ranked #3 in the country. (Click here for video.)
• Losing to Notre Dame 37-30 in overtime. The Huskies should have won this game in regulation, but they failed to score late to put Notre Dame away.
• Beating Arizona 36-33 on a late-game interception return for a touchdown. On the interception, the ball ricocheted off the wide receiver's foot and into the arms of the UW's Mason Foster (see photo above). (Click here for video.)
• Losing to Arizona State 24-17 on a last second touchdown pass after failing to run out the clock and force overtime. (Click here for video.)

The Huskies still have five more Pac-Ten games left, all of which should be exciting. It is even possible that they might get invited to a post-season bowl game.

Above: The UW in action against Arizona State

Below: The UW band

Six months have passed, and I can hardly remember the Super Bowl

Six months and two days have passed since Super Bowl XLIII, and, thankfully, I can barely remember what happened. I remember that at the end of the first half, the Arizona Cardinals were deep in Pittsburgh territory and were about to score, but Kurt Warner threw an interception and that one guy for the Steelers ran it all the way back for a touchdown and collapsed into the end zone. I also remember that the Cardinals were leading late, but then the Steelers scored. I really wanted that guy's feet (see photo above) to be out of bounds, but they weren't. Finally I remember that with about five seconds left, the Steelers player knocked the ball out of Kurt Warner's hand and the referees ruled it a fumble and didn't even bother to review it using instant replay. (Although, maybe they did after all.)

I am just happy that the human brain can deal with tragedy and injustice by simply forgetting about it. Imagine how horrible our lives would be if we had to remember everything.

False Memories #1 - Roy Green's Five Touchdown Catches

What I remember: On November 13, 1983, Grandpa Nussbaum took me with him to see the St. Louis Cardinals play the Seattle Seahawks. Cardinals receiver Roy Green (pictured below) caught five touchdown passes to tie an NFL single-game record.

What actually happened: Roy Green caught four touchdown passes in the first half, and we spent the entire second half desperately hoping that he would catch another one to tie the record. He did not.

For probably twenty years I went around telling people that I had seen Roy Green catch five touchdown passes that day. Only recently did I try to look it up, and then I found out the truth.

Below, Busch Memorial Stadium