I Promise Not to Have Sex--Not

Perhaps you've heard of virginity pledges. This is where kids and young adults (well, ok, fundamentalist kids and young adults) promise not to have sex until they get married. Funny story--they don't work. The best part is that four out of five conveniently denied/forgot that they had made such a pledge. I wonder what would make them do that?

The real issue here is the "magic bullet" approach to getting kids to avoid behaviors that may have bad consequences (e.g., sex, drinking, drugs, and tobacco) just doesn't work. Just like DARE is a scam. These programs make adults (and/or law enforcement) feel like they are doing something, when in fact they are trying to alleviate their guilt for their ineffective parenting skills. Raising healthy kids takes a lifetime, not exacting an empty promise or having Officer Donut lecture them.

So, instead of having your kids make a New Year's resolution to not (fill in the blank), talk to them. A lot.

Have a great and safe New Year's.

Hookey!

OK, today was going to be a psuedo work day. The wife needed to go in for a few hours then I was going to work for a bit. Coming back from Vegas I promised the HB that I would take him sledding this week, thinking that Tuesday would be the best day. Well, after looking at our calendar, that clearly wasn't the case. So, I shut down the computer, called one of the HB's best friends (and a kid the wife and I really like, as opposed to the BS), packed some snacks and warm weather gear and headed to the mountains.

Some brief LA jingoism--one of the many things that makes this a great place to live is that we can be in the snow (in the mountains, where it belongs) in 90 minutes or less (usually), even though I'm less than 10 minutes from the beach. However, this being a holiday week, the traffic up the mountain completely sucked, so it took us 2.5 hours (another reason I hate skiing--even the ride to the slopes is a pain in the ass).

But, we made it and and the conditions were perfect. Not a cloud in the sky, mid-50s temps and lots of good sledding. The HB had is obligatory wipe-out (this time into a tree stump, but he only had some scratches and got right back on), but otherwise we had a great time. On the way home we stopped for some food at the world's slowest Del (Hell) Taco (NEVER go to the one at the intersection of CA Highway 138 and Interstate 15), but made good time after that.

The boys were awesome despite the extra car time. In fact, a sleepover at the good kid's house has already been arranged for the Saturday night. This will allow the wife and I to go use a restaurant gift card for the Saddle Peak Lodge, a place we've wanted to go to for a long time.

Tomorrow, I'll definitely have to put the nose to the grindstone. There are a couple of smouldering client issues and end of the year tax stuff that require my attention.

NFL Week 17--Whither Farvre? (Updated)

Whether it was balance in the league or a fluke in scheduling, this year weeks 16 an 17 in the NFL have had meaningful games between playoff contenders. It made for a great day of football watching.

My main preference coming into the game in the NFC was for the Eagles to get in the playoffs. For this to happen they needed some help. First, they needed my RAIDERS to win at Tampa Bay. This wasn't as onerous as it sounded as the Bucs were riding a 3 game losing streak. But still, this was the RAIDERS. Amazingly, and behind some great running by Michael Bush, they won. Next, the Eagles needed either Chicago or Minnesota to lose. The Vikings won a nail-biter against the Giants (whose playoff positioning would not be affected by today's games), but the Bears got beat by Houston. This meant that Philly would still have to beat Dallas at home in what was essentially a playoff game.

It was a laugher. I cannot count the number of ways that the the Cowboys sucked and it was beautiful to watch. I called my relatives in the Philly area and they were jubulant.

In the AFC, my only concern was the cheating Patriots to miss out on the playoffs. For this to happen they either needed to lose to the Bills or have the Jets beat Miami, or have Baltimore lose. The New England beat Buffalo in a gale, so it was up to the 'Fins to beat the J-E-T-S.

This game was filled with intrigue. First, it was the Jets who turned in the cheating Patriots, so it was ironic that the Pats were in a position to root for them to win. Also, the Miami quaterback, Chad Pennington, was given the unceremonious boot when the Jets signed Brett Favre. Pennington has completely outplayed Favre this year, especially during the last month and now had the chance to stick it to New York in their own stadium.

Favre may have taken the Jets about as far they could go this year (rember, they were 8-3 with the first win over the Titans). But, like in last year's NFC championship game, he KILLED his team with his play today (20 of 40 for 233 and 3 interceptions). OK, since the Ravens won it didn't matter what the Jets did, but that's not the point. The Jets tossed aside a perfectly good QB in Pennington and a 3rd round draft pick for Favre and now have basically nothing to show for it, except a whole lot of jersey sales. And they get to go through Favre's annual "Will he or won't he retire" dance. Nice.

But, at least the cheating Patriots got shut out of the playoffs. Karma's been good to them in 2008. Blew their perfect season in the Super Bowl to the Giants, lost Tom Brady for the year in week 1, and missed the playoffs because they team that caught them cheating couldn't win. It doesn't get any better.

The Chargers and Broncos are playing right now for the last spot. I've got in on DVR and will watch it later. I haven't decided who to root for. I just wish I would have invested my good luck in games while in Vegas.

[In an update, the Bolts HAMMERED the Donks, giving Denver the honor of one of the greatest collapses in NFL history. Also, the Jets' head coach is the first casualty of the Favre trade. I'm sure there is more to come.]

A Mormon in Vegas

Well, OK, that's a big of an exaggeration, but it was a fairly pious trip. No sex, no cards and only 3 drinks. Oh well.

Penn & Teller were very good. Most of the act was different compared to the last time we saw them, though Teller did the appearing goldfish trick which is awesome. The wife got us great seats and the NZS loved it. Unfortch, a good chunk of the banter was over the HB's head which he found frustrating and that distracted him from enjoying the magic. We had some good food at McFadden's at the Rio (where we saw the show) as well.

This morning we slept in, grabbed some breakfast and wandered through a few casinos/hotels. By lunchtime the boys had had enough and we drove home. Again, it was a nightmare and took about 6 hours. We picked up Nugz who was as happy to see us as we were to be home.

The NZS loved the trip, which was the primary purpose of going. I can't really see going there with the HB again until he's 21. There's just not that much to do with people who don't gamble, golf or shop (OK, I can go golfing with him there, but it's a bit of a haul).

I am SO looking forward to doing nothing but watch football tomorrow.

The Day After Xmas

It is freezing and windy in Vegas today. Yet, the wife had the gumption to grab some early breakfast and get us tickets to a show. Given her usual indecisive self, I got about 5 phone calls within 20 minutes as to what show to see with the boys. The winner: Penn & Teller at the Rio. The wife and I saw them a few years ago and it was pretty cool (I like their Libertarian politics as well as their act).

Today we wandered up and down The Strip. The NZS loved the different themes and the HB was pretty enthralled as well. The wife ducked away and made some money at the blackjack tables (I've yet to play), the boys got some arcade time, and I had a beer before noon, so it's all good. We even went on the roller coaster at New York-New York.

The worst thing with the weather is that it makes going into the jacuzzi untenable. The cold I don't mind. But the wind is another story.

I hope that your day after is going well.

Xmas in Vegas

Well, we finally made it. Traffic was hell (the normal 4 hour drive took 6) and our hotel is bit too close to McCarran, but we'll live. The NZS and the HB were blown away by The Strip. My wife's going to go in search of show tickets tomorrow. Other than that, I think we're just gonna bum around and go in and out of the cooler hotels.

I'm gonna take a Tylenol PM and crash.

Oh, at least the hotel has free wifi...Woot!

Having Some Water Near Heartbreak Hill

Xmas eve-day at the in-laws has come and gone without serious incident. After calculating how much time it would take to make pasta for 11 people and being informed that we should eat as soon as possible, Plan B was implemented: Make sauce, prepare baked zita and spaghetti out of the box. My s-i-l made some delish bruschetta and salad and we went super-carb. Woot!

Many drinks (diet coke and Jack, cosmos and wine) were served and everyone seemed to like their prezzies. I got Death Magnetic, which is funny since that's what the HB got his mom. I also got come cooking stuff and a book about Andrew Jackson. The HB and the nephew made out like bandits, of course.

We left my s-i-l's at about 5:30 or so. We've been having a nice night at home. We DVRed some xmas movies/shows (A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on Evergreen Terrace) and played some Scrabble. Then, the wife realized that she hadn't baked stuff for the neighbors. So, at 9:15pm on xmas eve, I shit you not, she went to the store and is baking as we speak. So much for packing for our Vegas trip tonight.

The HB is showing odd behavior, well for him, also. This year is by far the most materialistic he's ever been about xmas/hannukah. He's asking how early we can get up to open presents--something he's never done before. We told him 9am and you might think that we took away his birthday or something. I'm thinking that he'll live.

As I mentioned in a previous post, back to the in-laws tomorrow (I'm sensing that we're going to have leftover pasta for lunch) then off to Vegas. Woot!

Let the Marathon Begin

For some reason, xmas with my wife's family has somehow morphed into a two-day affair. This year it's because one of my s-i-l's wants to spend a good chunk of xmas day with her in-laws, which is fine. So, that means today all of us are getting together at 11 until god knows when, then again tomorrow around lunch for a few more hours (theoretically, but I'll get to that later).

Given how much I can't stand xmas, this is gonna suck.

The HB stayed at the nephew's last night, so at least the wife and I got to knock it out last night and sleep in this am (the NZS, like most teenagers, sleeps like the dead). After I got this post up, I'll start getting things together for lunch. We're going to do something we haven't done in a while: make pasta from scratch. Yes, it's a bunch of work, but it will keep me in occupied the kitchen and give the boys something to do in case they are getting squirly. I'll whip up a big, thick sauce as well.

I'm assuming that after lunch we'll dig into presents. This will be take for fucking ever because my m-i-l will want to tell a story about all of them and we'll have to constantly repeat what things are 'cuz she's so deaf or pass everything around. One good thing is that I'm sure my s-i-l will have plenty of booze around. If not, it will be early enough during xmas eve day that getting in and out of a market/liquor store will be no problem.

After things finally break up, we'll head home and get ready for our trip to Las Vegas! Woot! The NZS went on a great train tour of the US last summer, but they didn't make it to Vegas and he wants to check it out. I don't blame him, the HB hasn't been and we're always up for Vegas. We were also thinking of hitting the Grand Canyon, but it's going to be too cold there for the wife and the NZS. I'm not sure what shows etc we are going to see (my wife's theoretically been checking that out), but just checking everything out and playing some cards will be fun.

So, my wife keeps saying that we'll go back to her mom's around lunchtime on xmas day and leave for Vegas at around 4pm. I'm calling bullshit--the pull of the black jack tables will be too strong for her. But, we'll see.

I hope y'all enjoy the beginning of Santa's birthday tonight.

Holiday Spirit

As an atheist, the "holidays" always present a bit of a conundrum for me (my real holidays are New Year's Day and the Super Bowl). I don't want to be all bah-humbug or a hypocrite. So, my primary goal during the season is to teach the HB about sharing what we have with those less fortunate than us.

In the past, we've put meals together with One-Voice. This year, we had the opportunity to give food and presents to the families and interact with him. Like in most big cities, the geographic distance between those who have and those who don't is not great. All of the families we met were either African-American or Hispanic, or both. To qualify, the family had to have kids enrolled in a Head Start program.

I didn't see any family with only one child and there were several where the mom was pregnant. Why a woman who can't provide for the child/children she has doesn't take the steps to prevent having another one is beyond me. Almost everyone we interacted with was very appreciative, except for a few who were too busy talking on their cell phones.

Regardless, I don't think that the lesson of taking the HB (or the NZS who also joined us) is that there are poor people in LA. When I asked the HB what we learned, he said that a) a few people working together could make things better for a lot of people and b) it's important that we share what we have with others.

I don't think you need a dude on a cross or a "miracle" of lights to understand that.

Metallica at the Forum

The wife and I had a great time at the Metallica concert last night. Sure, fighting rush-hour traffic sucked (especially since we live so close to the Forum), but we had no problems parking or getting to our seats.

We missed the opening band, but we saw the second one, Machine Head. With a name like that, you'd think they'd be doing Deep Purple covers, but they didn't. They did a great job with the crowd and got people into their set. My primary complaint with them, and this current wave of metal bands, is the CONSTANT screaming by the lead singer. And this guy could really sing, as evidenced by their version of Iron Maiden's Hallowed by Thy Name.

The stage setup was very cool. It was a large rectangle in the middle of the floor with mics at each corner and the in between them. The drum setup was in the middle and rotated. There were lights in coffins, per the Death Magnetic motif. They also had both lasers and pyrotechnics (insert WATCH OUT JAMES joke here) in the stage.

What I still love about seeing Metallica is how well they play and control tempo. Speed metal bands tend to want to play even faster live. Except for on Master of Puppets, they avoided that trap. And when they played fast, like on Fight Fire With Fire, they were tight.

The set list covered a big chunk of their career and had plenty of new songs. I like Death Magnetic, so I was cool with that. The wife's not as big on the record, so she would have preferred more older stuff.

There was some of the usual concert experience. A bunch of military dudes in front of us in the "I love you man" stage of drunkenness. The woman sitting next to me puked (but, fortunately, not on me). But, we got out of the parking lot in a jiffy, so we got home at a reasonable hour so I could write about it to y'all.

Have a great Friday.

Cancer's a Cunt

I know, I'm rarely this elegant, but it's one of those days. Today was a friend's funeral. He was 43. He left a wife, and stepdaughter who adored him, a grandchild and another one on the way. His parents, in-laws, and younger brother were all there to bury him.

My friend had lymphoma. He had undergone regular radiation and two clinical trials. Nothing worked. My friend was a kind, gentle soul who had so much good in him. It sucks that he's gone.

This isn't going to turn into a rant against fate or a call to turn one's life around. Rather, I just want to say that miss him and I wish we would have spent more time together.

Off to see Metallica tonight.

Countdown

We've gotten to the point now where the NZS is really counting down his time in the US. As you would imagine, there's a lot more he wants to do and not enough time to do it (he leaves Jan 8th).

Since his football team lost in the playoffs he's back on the soccer team. Soccer is his true sports love and he's very happy to be back on the pitch. On the football field he always looked a bit lost and on ice skates. Playing soccer he's very fluid and comfortable.

Xmas afternoon we (the four of us) are going to do a quick trip to Vegas and the Grand Canyon. After we get back, he's going to head up to the mountains for some snowboarding with some of his HS buddies (one of his other host families has a place up there).

I would imagine that when he gets back from that we'll have to start shipping some of his stuff home (there's not way he could pack it all on a plane). That will be a sad day.

I'm trying not to talk too much about the NZS II who arrives a couple of weeks later. The NZS asks about him and they occasionally exchange e-mail. I try to remind the HB that the two will be very different and to try not to always mention the NZS in front of the NZS II.

But, all of that is in the future. Today the NZS has a soccer game (possibly in the rain) and some end of the semester projects to finish. Time marches on.

Toe Dip Into TV Land

I don't watch much episodic TV (unless you include Monday Night Football). About the only exception is Mad Men. It's mostly a time thing, but also much of what I've seen is cringe-worthy.

Last night the HB slept over at a friends' and the NZS went to a party. The wife and I made plans to maybe hear some music or catch a movie after she got back from a happy hour she and a co-worker were hosting for some people helping them on a project. Well, that whole thing turned out to be a clusterfuck, so she didn't really feel like going out. Besides, by the time she got back we had missed all the movie times. So, we ran out and got some dinner and a bottle of Pinot Noir and hit the video store (there wasn't anything particularly good on PPV).

After perusing the movies, we worked our way towards the TV epdisodes. Every now and then we'll rent a few episodes of shows, particulary ones on HBO or Showtime, just to check them out. Last night we rented some episodes of Weeds.

One thing about watching a few episodes back-to-back is that the theme songs get annoying. I think they're only meant to be heard once a week. I thought the show was only OK. It's well acted and all, but the writing completely lacks subtlety. And aren't there enough shows that skewer the 'normalcy' of suburbia?

With no serious college football on today (except the lower division playoffs) I've put together a list of things to do around here. Also, the wife and I are going to check out a place for my parents' 50th. But, dealing with all of that will have to wait for another post.

The World's Largest Rudderless Ship

Two years ago, the LA Unified School District (LAUSD) made a HUGE deal when it hired David Brewer to be superintendent. Mr. Brewer was an admiral in the Navy, but had never run a school district, though we was responsible for many training initiatives at the Navy College program. Only 2 years into a 4 year contract, it looks like he's on his way out. Why on earth would the board that just hired him be so sick of him already? Let's just say it's not due to great strides being made at LAUSD.

It comes down to a lot of politics. The mayor of LA, Antonio Villaraigosa, has lots of big plans for the city. Outside of helping developers revitalize the area around Staples Center, not much has oe to fruition. One of his big plans was to make the LA schools better. But, the mayor in LA doesn't really have that much impact on schools as they are run by an elected board. It's also tricky because some other cities' schools are part of LAUSD. So, he tried an end run through his friends in the legisature, but only got some crumbs. The next best thing, in his eyes, was to get his friends elected to the school board, which he was able to do. None of these new school board members had any loyalty to Brewer and didn't have much interest in working with him since he's not their guy.

So, some stuff must have been in the works because earlier in the week Brewer said that he wouldn't quit, but if the district bought out his contract (for about $500k) he would just walk. There was more than a little martyrdom in his statement. Then he busts out with, "I don't want to make this a racism thing. That would be too painful for the students, so just pay me." Hunh? He's a black superintendant of a majority Latino overseen by a multi-racial school board. Why in the world would a guy who has achieved so much in his life, and not by making excuses, play the race card? To use as leverage for the buyout?

Let's assume that racism is part of it. Isn't that a last lesson he would want to teach the under achieving students in his district? Or, if black-Latino racism is preventing the district from performing well, shouldn't we know about it?

The fact of the matter is that a school district the size of LAUSD is nearly impossible to manage. The school board's insistence on keeping the district so large so they can keep power while saving a few dollars is preventing it from being effective. The beauracracies are so intrenched and calcified that they greatest school district administrator in the world won't be able to turn it around. And with CA's budget problems, there's gonna be less money to do what needs to be done.

Yes, I'm going to keep writing those private school checks.

Time Marching On

Last night, the NZS's football team had their semi-final playoff game. Their opponent came into it undefeated and was ranked 2nd in the region. It was a close fought game that fit into a pretty easy narrative: The very athletic, but undisciplined squad against the team (them) that plays well together and executes well (the NZS team).

The NZS's team had a 7-point lead with about 5 seconds left in the first half. At this point, everyone's feeling pretty good. The other team throws a Hail Mary pass and the defensive back does exactly what he's supposed to: he knocked the ball down instead of trying to catch it. Well, he knocked it into another player, the ball popped-up and a guy on the other team ran it in for a touchdown. Very bad luck and a tie game.

The 2nd half opened with the NZS's team throwing an interception (their only turnover of the game). The other team converted and kept either a 7 or 14 point lead the rest of the game. Afterwards, the kids were dissapointed, but were able to realize that they had a great season. They have every reason to hold their heads up.

The second biggest reason to recognize today is that it is the anniversary of my dissertation defense. On this day I always call the chair of my committee to thank him, even though we still talk frequently. He gets a big kick out of that.

After last night's game, the wife and I watched The Savages. An interesting and well-acted movie that really hits home given my m-i-l's health. Philip Bosco is particularly good. He plays the father who has dementia setting in. There are several scenes he plays well where you're not quite sure whether he understands what is going on around him. When my dad was in the hospital after his heart attack, it would drive me batshit when people would talk about him like he wasn't even there when it was entirely possible that he was understanding everything.

Tamera Jenkins, the director, casts pretty much everyone and every place in harsh light. The bright and blurry postcard-like colors of Arizona are particularly damning.

The wife's family is coming over for dinner (I hope I can get in some football watching) in a bit, so I'll need to whip up something. Probably pizza and spaghetti.

Small Milestones and Work

A couple of milestones at the Wrecker house on Friday.

First, Nugz the Pug had her 3rd birthday. Yes, we had a doggie cake (OK, wet dog food) with a candle in it. At least the wife has quit inviting over the neighbor kids and their dogs.

Second, we had a family game of Scrabble and the HB won. OK, he had a little bit of help at the beginning, but closed the deal himself. It was all very cool, though the NZS was a tad bent, but he's kinda competitive that way.

As I've mentioned before, one of the things that sucks about having my own biz is that my emotions can really swing depending on whether I get new customers or not. It's usually not that big of deal, but this week was something else.

I heard from a company that's referred me work before about a potential client. So, I work up some numbers for them and take a call with the client. Everything seemed to go OK. So, the dude who referred me calls back a couple of days later and says, "It all looks good, I'm gonna ink the deal tomorrow." Well, he calls back the next day and says that it's off. Fuck, but that kind of shit happens. Then, he calls back two days later and says that we are back on.

At this point, I don't know what to think until I get that first check. I should probably ask for some money down just to be sure they are serious.

In the meantime, I won a project that I submitted a proposal for (something I rarely do) and I sent in a bid for another project today. That one would be a cool entree to a big consulting firm, but we'll see. What they pay me cuts into their profits for the deal, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

A Death in Science

One of the most important people in all of psychology and neuroscience died Tuesday. He wasn't a researcher, therapist or teacher. Rather, he was an unfortunately brain injured man, known as HM, who served as a link to understanding the physical nature of memory.

The Holy Grail of neuroscience now is the understanding of exactly how memories are formed. When HM was first studied, scientists didn't even know where memories were stored.

Among psychology students, the term HM has always been a quick shorthand for someone who can't remember something. So, if my wife can't remember something easy I'll say, "Your car keys are in your hand, HM."

Philosophically, his case is interesting. What would your life be like if you couldn't remember things after a certain point in time? Would life be fascinating or frustrating if everything seemed brand new? On one hand, you'd only have to own one book, but would have to read it pretty quickly for it to make sense. But, it would be impossible to build meaningful friendships.

RIP, HM.

The Big 3 With Hat in Hand

After getting their asses handed to them after begging for dollars a few weeks ago, the CEOs of the Big 3 automakers are back again. Besides the usual, "We're too big to fail" argument, they are saying that they have all of these great technologies right around the corner, and if they only had a few tens of billions of dollars they'll get them to market soon and make tons of money.

There are (at least) two serious flaws with this argument:

1) If you guys were such management geniuses to be able to use all of this money wisely and bring great products to market, you wouldn't be prostrating yourselves right now. GM has been running their business into the ground for 30 years. What's different now? This whole thing about, "Oh, if you give us this money we'll work for $1 a year and we'll sell our jets" has nothing to do with anything. These guys do not know how to run a successful car business in North America. $25,000,000,000 won't change that. Remember, GM came out with the first modern electric car, the EV, then gave up on it.

2) If these new cars are that awesome and they just need capital to get them to the finish line, they should go looking for venture capital (perhaps from their unions?), not taxpayer money. There must be venture capitalists who want to cash in on these great cars of the future. What's that? Oh, yeah, they wouldn't have faith in Detroit to pull it off. Nevermind.

The Big 3 will have you believe that they made American capitalism great. For a time, that might have been true. But their arrogance and stubbornness has contributed to the degradation of our environment and their own demise. Let them sink or swim on their own merits, but not with my tax dollars.

Fantasy Football Upate

I try not to bore people (and readers) with details of my fantasy football team. Either your into it or not, and when your not few conversations can be more insufferable. Shit, I don't like listening to my friends talk about their fantasy baseball teams since I'm not in the league.

The cook think about our league is that we've had it for about 22 years. Obviously, we were ahead of the curve. Back then, it was a good excuse to go out and drink beer in the middle of the week. Then again, none of us had kids (and very few had wives), so we didn't really need an excuse. I was still in grad school for the first couple of years, but it was still going strong when I got back.

We've had a pretty good core of guys the whole time without much churn. The continuity has made things fun and led to some good long standing rivalries. We put in a little money, but it's really about pride and having a good time.

I've won a few championships over the years, but the last two years have been a bit of struggle (poor drafts and injuries), but this year I've made it into the playoffs and have a good chance to win this week (I doubt I'll be able to go all the way).

Key to my playoff run has been Brian Westbrook of the Eagles and making a trade for Philip Rivers of the Chargers. My kickers have been solid as well (Akers of Philly and Bryant of Tampa Bay).

I'll keep you posted on my playoff progress.

In real football news, UT announced the hiring of Lane Kiffin to take Philip Fulmer's place. Fulmer has been loyal and generally done good things for the university and the team over the last 30 years or so. However, the quality of the team on the field is on a downward trajectory an its not like their off-field behavior or graduation rate makes up for it. My biggest complaint with him is that the players are no better as seniors than as sophomores. He recruits good talent but has lost the ability to develop them. All things must come to an end, quite frankly, the writing was on the wall about this last year. I wish him all the best.

Kiffin is a good, but not great hire. I don't know how much he was responsible for USC's offense or recruiting when he was there. I don't hold his short tenure with the RAIDERS against him because Al Davis has lost his fucking mind (but, that's for another post). I would imagine the head coaching experience in the NFL will be a selling point to recruits who see themselves going to that next level. Also, the organizational experience will help.

If he can up the graduation rate and start competing again with 'Bama, Florida and Georgia, I'll be happy. Otherwise, bring on the next guy.