We’ve had some excellent, very competitive BCS bowls so far.

I mean, this Fiesta Bowl is practically a nailbiter, with West Virginia struggling to hold on to a 20 point lead over Oklahoma.

48-28, WVU with 9 minutes to go in the game.

Sheesh.

Quick question for the Mac folk out there.  For those of you who use Safari, are you noticing it crashing a lot recently?

I’m wondering if I’ve managed to bollocks something up on my own, or if it’s just an issue from Apple’s side.

I haven’t mentioned this before, but Apple has been very, very kind to me recently. To put it into a brief version, I had an issue where connecting an external monitor to my MacBook Pro caused the system to go into complete deep-freeze mode. At that stage, only a hard restart worked.

Well, I went through several stages of phone support, up to and including reinstalling Tiger. Alas, no great success was found. Finally, I found a workaround that worked on a message board, and pretty much let it go. However, in the interim before this, I actually wrote a letter to Apple, explaining the problem and requesting some assistance in resolving it.

Shortly after sending the letter, I received a nice email and a phone call from a fellow in Cupertino (I assume), who reviewed my case, and explained what was being done from Apple’s perspective on evaluating the glitch.

These calls and emails were frequent over the period of a couple of weeks, and I explained the workaround I had found that was a satisfactory interim solution. Finally, when I installed the 10.4.11 final update of Tiger a couple of weeks ago, the problem was gone completely, without the workaround.

Frankly, I hadn’t really given it any more thought until I received a call from my guy in Cupertino. He explained that the engineers were still working through the issue, and was just giving me a status update. I explained that the problem seemed to be gone after installing 10.4.11, so it was cool. I thanked him for his help, and thought that was all.

Until a few days later, when he called and said, “By the way, we want to send you Leopard.” So, Friday morning, the FedEx guy showed up with my Family Pack box of OS X Leopard. I’ve now installed it on my MacBook Pro and the missus’ MacBook, and it’s pretty sweet.

However, now I get to the main point of my post. I’m really looking for some direction from a website about utilizing the cool new features in Leopard. I’m interested in some tips/tricks, etc. for using Spaces, sharing between computers, the new features in Mail, etc.

Anyone with helpful tips would be a tremendous help. Thanks.

You probably don’t want to miss the second half.

For an early season game, especially a game that’s on with a noon start time, Memphis vs. Georgetown is freaking awesome. 

This game is excellent, and I don’t know if you’ll see two better teams slugging it out on the court all year (or at least until March).

It’s #2 vs. #4, and it’s rocking at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.  Tigers lead the Hoyas 43-40 at the half.

It’s on ESPN.

GO TIGERS GO!

UPDATE:  Tigers roll in the second half, and beat G’town big, 85-71.

Now, for the second half of my college hoops day, with my #12 Volunteers taking on #24 Xavier in Cincy. 

Go VOLS!

Looks like the Dookies have stolen themselves a coach from Tennessee.  According to local reports, Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe has been offered and is expected to accept the head coaching job in Durham.

Best wishes to Coach Cut.  I hate to see him go, but I certainly understand the desire to make about 3 times what he’s making as OC here.  He’s going to have a long tough road to get any football success at Duke, but I certainly think he’ll do a fine job.

Ole Miss has hired Houston Nutt to take over the head coaching duties for the nightmarishly bad Rebels football team.

After the monumental failure with the hire of Dennis Franchione, Texas A&M backs up excellent decision making with the hiring of a failed NFL head coach that couldn’t get a Brett Favre led team to the Super Bowl in the then-pathetic NFC.

Mike Sherman?  Really?

Way to go Aggies! (False exuberance here.  I see nothing in this hire for anyone at TAMU to be excited about.  This is as lackluster of a hire as could be imagined.)

Granted, it’s against Middle Tennessee State, but still. 

MTSU 21- UT 61 at the half. 

JaJuan Smith has 26 on his own.  At the half.

This is a team that people in Westwood, Chapel Hill, etc., should be very, very concerned about.

UPDATE: Final 109-40.  That was with the Vols sleepwalking through the second half.

UPDATE #2: The basketball dudes from Westwood look like they are being coached by Karl Dorrell.  The fUCLA hoopsters are trailing Michigan St. by around 10 (as they have most of the game) a few minutes into the 2d half.

UPDATE BY BRENDAN: fUCLA pulled it out. Nick Saban described it as a comeback on par with American forces in the Pacific rallying to defeat imperial Japan. :) Anyway, by beating Sparty, UCLA just barely accomplished something that puts them in elite company alongside Grand Valley State. Congrats, Bruins! ;)

Also in the Pac-10, #11 Oregon was stunned by St. Mary’s. Maybe Gonzaga won’t be the only at-large candidate from the WCC this season!

Well, if you actually failed, and really wanted to pass instead, I’d say your best bet is to be the daughter of a South Carolina Judge, a law clerk for a Judge (makes you wonder about the hiring process for clerks, huh?), or otherwise be related to someone in South Carolina politics.  Then, I’m pretty sure you’d get your failing grade changed to passing by the Supreme Court.

I’m not licensed in South Carolina, so I don’t know anything about the Courts or the judicial process there.  This smells really, really bad for the South Carolina Supreme Court to me.  This is the kind of conduct that brings a very bad negative impression of lawyers to foster bad stereotypes.  It’s also the kind of thing that really pisses me off in general.

The bar exam is hard as hell for a reason.  It makes sure that the people that pass the thing are at least minimally competent.  For those who busted ass to prepare and passed, it’s a big time slap in the face to just change a "fail" to a "pass" because of that person’s parentage.

For all the Mac folks out there who have already upgraded to Leopard, please note that Apple has just released the 10.5.1 update.

Cheers.

Oh yeah, for those of you like me who are still languishing in Tiger-land, they’ve also put out 10.4.11, which I have to suspect is the last update for Tiger.

I think that a big ole WTF? is in order after this box score came across the ticker:

Gardner-Webb 84
Kentucky 68

In Rupp Arena.  No, seriously.

Guess UK’s national title hopes are dashed.  Well, except for the fact that there’s a tournament that decides that…

UPDATE BY BRENDAN: Pat Forde argues that this upset is on par with Appalachian State’s win over Michigan. What do you think?

Kentucky was a 25-point favorite, if that matters.

Apparently, Craigslist flagged my post for removal, and it got gone in a hurry.

I don’t understand why.

Link not only probably NSFW, it’s just generally in poor taste.  There. You’ve been warned.

View this photo

Saw this article, haven’t read it, but thought I’d point it out for you weather geek types to read and consider.  Cliffs Notes version, please.

I know most of you non-Southern types that read Brendan’s blog have teams with rivals that are big deals.  All of the Trojans hate the Bruins, etc. 

There’s nothing quite like a Southern football rivalry, though.  Lots of teams down in these parts don’t like each other.  I find it hard to express adequately how much I dislike the University of Alabama.  If you compile all of the collective disdain I feel for Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Georgia, and all of the other teams in the college football world and bundle it all together, it only approaches the amount I despise the Crimson Tide.

I have tried all week to express my feelings about The Third Saturday in October, but my blinding rage prevents me from doing so.  Instead, I’m going to direct your attention to a post from a Vol fan from a decade or so ago.  He seem to convey most of what I feel, and does it better than I probably could’ve.

God, I hate Alabama.

GOOOOO VOLS, BEAT BAMA

BUCK FAMA

If Alabama wins, the Terrorists win.

Alabama:  Showing the commitment and dedication in the tradition of the game.  Except now, they seem to be paying the Coach MORE than the players.

Toilet paper and laundry detergent.  Keep it handy for crapping your pants and then cleaning up after the Vols destroy you.  This is, IMHO, the most moronic tradition in college football.

Finally, Apple has provided us with the delivery date of the newest incarnation of OS X, 10.5 Leopard.  It will be available on October 26, 2007.  Countdown clock underway at Apple.com.

So, who’s upgrading as soon as it gets here?

It’s retailing for $129.  I believe I saw a deal posted on dealmac for pre-orders with a $20 discount, though.