RAMS AT THE SUPER BOWL

Quarterback Bulger and running back Jackson from the St. Louis Rams made it to the Super Bowl after all. At least they're in our fair city for the hoopla. Here they are pictured at a Scottsdale night club.

So what's wrong with the picture? Well, they're still my Rams. And they ain't playing on Sunday.

There's a saying in our town, "Root for the team in the city where you live, or go back to the city you came from." Well, something like that anyway(s). It makes a lot of sense. I do root for the Suns. I don't think they'll ever win a championship without a true center, but this week I even stayed up till 10:40 or the start of the fourth quarter before I packed it in. After a couple of third quarter naps. And I do like to watch them play, but Amare is a power forward, not a center. So until we get a true center, I don't see any banners flying from the America's Center.

The Diamondbacks, well I'm a partial season ticket holder, and I like their team, if I don't care for Chase Field atmosphere. I do want the football Cardinals to win, too, especially since they still have Kurt Warner and the greatest football stadium on the planet. But close reader(s) will note I called them they, not my or our.

I still don't know how I can give up 50 years of rooting for the baseball Cardinals and 12 years rooting for the Rams. Plus both have won World Series and a Super Bowl. I know, the DBax won in 2001 and that was a good time, even though they beat the Cardinals in a playoff game I attended.

So while I'm a transplant and secondarily root, root, root for the home teams, my home teams still play in the Midwest. It's nice to see Mark and Stephen here. Maybe they can learn a thing or two and take it back to St. Lou for the 2008-09 football season.

SUPER, THIS BOWL

ESPECIALLY FOR THE ECONOMY. UP TO $400 MILLION SPENT IN GLENDALE, AZ. IN THE NORTH PART OF THE VALLEY, A PGA GOLF TOURNAMENT WILL BRING IN MORE FOR THE COFFERS. LAST WEEK, ALSO IN SCOTTSDALE WERE THE CAR AUCTIONS GENERATING MORE DINERO. ON THE FAR EAST SIDE OF THE VALLEY WHERE I PLAYED GOLF ON A FRIGID AZ WEDNESDAY, HOME BUILDING WAS SOARING. NOT HUGE MANSIONS, BUT MIDDLE CLASS HOUSING (is there still a middle class?). SO I'M WONDERING WHERE THIS LOUSY ECONOMY IS. I DON'T THINK IT'S IN THE WEST.

OF COURSE, PRICES FOR EVERYTHING THIS WEEK HAS ESCALATED. SOME GUY ON THE NEWS HAD RENTED HIS GLENDALE HOUSE FOR $3, 000 A DAY. AIRLINES HAVE RAISED THEIR PRICES TO $2,700 PER FLIGHT (pity those who have to make the trip to Phoenix and could care less about the two Eastern teams playing here). TICKET PRICES RANGE FROM $3,500 FOR UPPER DECK SEATS TO $12,000 FOR A SEAT ON THE 50 YARD-LINE. GO FIGURE.

I'M GETTING A HAIRCUT THIS MORNING, AND I EVEN EXPECT TO PAY MORE SINCE IT'S SUPER BOWL WEEK. NAUGH, GIO WOULDN'T DO THAT TO ME. BUT IT IS CRAZY.

NOW ABOUT THE GAME. THE PLAX SAYS THE NY TEAM 23-17. OUR SON SAYS THE PATSIES 48-13. I SAY, WHO CARES?

I DO LIKE ELI EVEN THOUGH HE DISSED THE CHARGERS ON DRAFT DAY. I DON'T LIKE bratty, the Patsy qb. NOR THEIR CHEATING, CONIVING COACH. THE GIANTS COACH EARNED MY LIKE FOR HIM WHEN HE SUFFERED A CHAPPED FACE AT GREEN BAY. IS BLOOD RED CHAPPED?

BUT I REALLY DON'T CARE. OK, I DO. BUT I'VE HAD SUCH A ROTTEN NFL ROOTING SEASON, THAT I'M ACTING BLASE ABOUT IT. THANKS FOR BRINGING THE SUPER BOWL HERE, MR. COMMISH ROGER, BUT YOU SCREWED UP BADLY ON THE PUNISHMENT YOU POURED OUT ON NEW ENGLAND FOR CHEATING. IF THERE IS JUSTICE, YOU'LL BE FIRED AND THE GIANTS WILL WIN ON SUNDAY.

WHERE'S MY QUOTE BOARD?

Somehow, somewhere along the line in my teaching career, I started writing down things that students said that were funny. I'd write down word for word what they said, give them credit by writing their name, and leave it on the board for 24 hours. All my other classes would see the crazy things they said, and out of context, they'd sometimes be pretty funny.

If I wrote anything that was embarrassing, the student who was quoted had the option of me erasing the quote. Over the years very few did. They seemed to like to see their name on the board, no matter what they said. Over 5 classes, I may have had two or three quotes for the day; other days, maybe ten or twelve. Something about the moon or tides or adolescent minds or adolescent hormones.

Had Jessica been a student of mine, I'm sure she would have been the quote board queen. As I was channeling (a term I just coined for channel flipping or channel surfing), I stopped on one of those shows that I really dislike where they talk about celebrities and some comediens make comments about how deranged the celebs are. But I saw a headline quoting Jessica Simpson: "I'm not anorexic, I'm from Texas."

Typical quote board material. But I only posted the quotes if they were unintentional. It was easy to see those who wanted their names in chalk. One year, 1991, I think, one student kept a list of all the quotes for the year. He, and others said I should write a book, but some things are good only for the moment. Jessica's quote did remind me of a quote from an honor student who queried one day in my class, "Are there any trees in Texas?"

MARBLING

Not like dolerite that we saw in South Africa, these stones nonetheless marble. At least the one in the foreground.

Veins of some kind of ore run deep. There was a Christmas candy that was shaped like the closest one. A favorite of my Dad's.

"Let go, my Maypole," was an advertising gimmick for some kind of candy, I believe, back in the 60's. I never understood that. Or a lot of things in the 60's.

I had a ton of steelies. Marbles that looked like solid steel. I used to trade them all the time for little colored glass ones. I was ripped off, but I didn't know it. I was just a kid. I never really understood the charm of marbles. We played marbles, where you drew a dirt circle and tried to shoot the other guys' marbles out of the circle. When you did, you got to keep them. I was never very good. At least it seems like I always lost more than I ever took home.

"You've lost your marbles," was an expression for someone crazy, either for one time or all times. "You've got marbles in your head," was another variation.

I don't know. Marbles, Maypole, Mr. Mumbles from Dick Tracy. That's what you get, when you start word associating with a picture that you find you like, but don't much know what to write about.

THE WII--NOT WORLD WAR II: NOT MICHELLE

The art work on the right is famous. People shell out good money for its artist's work including this one. Since I don't want to be mean, I won't share the artist's name, but like a lot of art, it doesn't appeal much to me.

I like art. We spent an hour or so of valuable South African time in the Art Institute in Cape Town. I didn't see much I liked there, except an armed horse made of metal. Now he had some serious weapons on his person. But like the drawing pictured, not much caught my fancy there.

So what's my point. Our four year old grandson, N.T. recently finished a pre-school artsy type project that I imagine looked like something in the neighborhood of the picture on the right. I know, what art lovers might say, "well then why doesn't he just quit pre-school and start earning a living as a great artist if he is so talented." Well, he's not. And taste is what taste is, or something like that.

When N. T. brought his work home, he had printed " I love my brother, my dad, the Wii, and also my sister and mommy." Forgive me sis and mom for sharing that story, but you know how important that Wii is to the 4 year-old. When he's 5, I'm sure he'll get his priorities in better order. And who knows who will be on top of his list next Christmas.

Don't forget, this is the same grandchild that told me on the way to the airport,"I'm never coming back here." I still love him.

AS COOL AS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PILLOW

Pillows are vital. They must be. Proof. Sit and watch people get off an airplane flight. So many people carry their own pillows. Sure, all are women or girls, but I see a lot of men who purchase those neck wrap-arounds for their flights.

To me, a good night's sleep (I wonder what that is) depends on a pillow more than a mattress. It must be firm. It can't be feather. Collapsibles don't fit my head.

Another necessity is two pillows for proper inclination. Three result in a stiff neck. One may result in snoring for me. A cool Spiderman pillow, courtesy of grandson Grant helped me one hot Summer night, but when I bought my own (don't tell), it didn't work on top of my other two. Maybe Grant had his all broken in, but sadly Spidey sits unused in a drawer.

Do I flip my pillow for the cool side? All night. Even on the coldest of nights I want no hot pillow. Even when my icy feet go searching for the warmth of my wife. My pillow must still be cold.

That's it. That's all I know about pillow talk.