Open Thread: Alabama/LSU

In honor of the season's first really big game (with apologies to every other nearly really big game already played), here's a thread for your commenting amusement. I feel about Alabama's chances like I do about Obama's: cautiously optimistic, while fully aware that the other side is capable of winning (with bonus parallels in the opposition's willingness to resort to chicanery).

The Twelve Days of Gheorghe-mas: Day Four

On the fourth day of Gheorghe-mas, Big Gheorghe gave to me...

Four Smokin' Rock Chicks 
Three Blogging Concepts (Sports, Drinking, Elitism)
Two Footie Stories
And a Doofus on a Pony

Our love of rock babes is reasonably well documented. From Neko to Jenny Lewis to Feist, Zooey Deschanel, and Avril Lavigne, we're suckers for a pretty girl with a little bit of attitude and a microphone.  For Gheorge-mas this year, we give you a quartet of ladies (a sextet, if you count each of Pistol Annies - heh heh, he said 'sextet') who brought it in 2011.

We first heard of Dum Dum Girls when they covered The Smiths' There is a Light That Never Goes Out. The pleasure and privilege was ours when we heard more of their stuff.  Here's 'Bedroom Eyes', a whole different perspective of life on the road.



The Givers play unapologetic bubblegum pop music, and Tiffany Lamson makes me feel kinda funny, like when I'm climbing the rope in gym class.



St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, has the kind of voice that makes a strong man stop in his tracks. Or so I assume. It makes a lesser man like me sit down and take a deep breath.



Finally, the Pistol Annies are a trio of lady badasses, including Miranda Lambert of Gunpowder and Lead fame. Please, Annie, don't hurt 'em.

Hail Vermont

My parents' alma mater is renowned for its world-class foreign language programs, highly acclaimed Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, and national championship caliber winter sports teams (not to mention its foundational role in birthing Gheorghe: the Blog). In keeping with its fancy/elitist New England college pedigree as a haven for the most liberal of the arts, Middlebury College also offers the sons and daughters of the 1% a safe place to test the boundaries of their creativity unemcumbered by the messy burdens of public school life.

It was in this nurturing environment that the Muggle game of Quidditch was born in the mid-2000s, and in the Green Mountains where the game's first and only dynasty thrives today. The Middlebury College Quidditch squad captured their fifth consecutive Quidditch World Cup a few weeks ago, defeating the University of Florida in the finals and returning the ceremonial Cup to its rightful home in Vermont. Middlebury trailed Florida by 10 before their Seeker captured the Golden Snitch and with it the 30 points that secured the record-setting victory.

Despite its humble (painfully nebbishy?) origins, ground-based Quidditch has become something of a sensation on North American college campuses, with more than 100 teams participating in the 2011 World Cup at New York's Randall's Island. Time featured the sport in a 2010 article, saying, "Quidditch is a sport striving for legitimacy. It has a rule book, a governing body (the International Quidditch Association, a nonprofit) and its own live streaming webcasts. Its players move with the grace and ferocity of top athletes; the best of them look like lacrosse players and hit like linebackers. All told, 46 teams from the U.S. and Canada vie for the Cup, and hundreds more franchises are just getting started. For a five-year-old sport, it's a remarkable ascension.”

Being Elmo

We've celebrated Kevin Clash here before, so it's probably no surprise that we're pretty excited about 'Being Elmo', the acclaimed documentary about his life's work.

Passion is one of G:TB's themes, mostly because we're trying to find it in our lives. Kevin Clash's story makes me happy, makes me hopeful, and makes me wish I had my hand up a Muppet's ass. Watch the trailer for 'Being Elmo' and join me in heading to the cineplex when it's released in DC at the E Street Theatre on November 11. NYC readers can catch it now at the IFC Theatre. Floridian's are gonna need to head to Boca. I'm working my documentary film connections to see if we can fix that.

So This Happened

Been a rough season for Tony Shaver's Wrens, but they continue to give more experienced opponents all they want. Last night on Long Island, W&M spotted Hofstra a 15-3 lead before finishing the first half on a 31-11 run. The teams swapped runs throughout the second half before CAA Player of the Year (soon to be two-time) Charles Jenkins hit a three to send the game to overtime. The Tribe led late in the extra session before the DutchPride tied the game, with Quinn McDowell scoring 28 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

And then this happened.



Obviously, the creators of the #wrenswillmakethecaasemis hashtag are anticipating a little bit of karmic rebound after a season littered with shouldacouldawoulda.