11 Jan

It’s ‘Pflu’ season for 2010 Grizzlies

Posted by Allison | Squirrel Thoughts in Squirrels/bunnies/mascots.

I’m going to start this post with a disclaimer: I don’t know that much about football. The only team I have any sort of attachment to is the Griz. I know very little about play calls, formations, coaching decisions, etc.; I’m usually just watching whichever player (I think) has the ball (I fall for fake hand-offs quite often). I’m easily distracted by mascots. For me, following the Griz has more to do with school (and state) pride than the nuances of the game.

University of Montana image

That being said, I think I’m gonna like the new guy at the helm for the Griz. I went to the Friday afternoon press conference officially introducing him and his staff, and Robin Pflugrad seems like he’ll be much more media-friendly than his predecessor, Bobby Hauck. (I don’t especially want to rehash the Kaimin incident here, so let’s just say the news of his departure to UNLV didn’t really upset me.)

Coach Pflu spent a good portion of the media stint emphasizing that his players will live up to the standards of both words in the term “student-athlete,” and that they’ll also be active members of the campus and local communities in addition to the Grizzly football community. He also has a good sense of humor. (He quipped a couple of times that “we’re going to run the ball a lot.” I thought he was making light of the fact that we’re losing our star receiver but keeping our star running back for another year. Yeah, that’s how unqualified I am to write about football.)

I know I’m probably reading too much into it, but I hope these comments mean Coach Pflu will not allow incidents of players breaking the law, or otherwise acting in an unsavory manner, to continue to plague this program.

Some people would argue these sorts of qualities are not important in a coach — that the ability to win games trumps all. I don’t agree. I want to feel proud of my team for the way the players and coaches represent the school and Montana, not just for racking up wins in a weak conference. And I don’t want one of the few stories the national sports media write on the Griz to be about the coach stonewalling the student newspaper I worked at. These expectations are not unreasonable, and I hope Coach Pflu lives up to them.

10 Jan

Conan to NBC: Eff off

Posted by Allison | Squirrel Thoughts in Life and Such, Other.

I’ve been a fan of Conan O’Brien for more than a decade, ever since I started watching  “Late Nite” as a 12-year-old insomniac. For a few years, I even had an alarm set on my Timex to go off as soon as his show started to ensure I wouldn’t miss it. Yes, that’s how devoted I was. I mean, what kind of crazy person wouldn’t want to watch such comedic genius as “The Year 2000” and “The Men Without Hats Conversation Channel”?

I love you, Conan!! (NBC photo)

Now, I admit I haven’t been quite as committed to Conan in the past few years, mainly because my newspaper night shifts interfered. And I only occasionally watch him on “The Tonight Show” because my aforementioned insomnia requires me to hop in bed to read myself to sleep a couple of hours before my actual bedtime.

Despite my wavering commitment, I’d like to say two words to NBC and Jay Leno for giving Conan the boot from his current time slot: Suck it. Hard. (OK, I added a third word after the fact, because I’m just that angry.)

How anyone could possibly think Jay Leno is funny continues to be one of Life’s Great Mysteries, and the fact that NBC gave him a primetime show so he can make those idiotic statements he calls “jokes” was asinine. Because Jay Leno is not funny. He’s incredibly lame, actually. His jokes are so stale and predictable that a 2-year-old could guess the punch lines and probably be too smart to find them amusing.

Or maybe he is funny, and I’m just bitter because he’s built a career around making fun of copy editors’ unfortunate mistakes. (As if the newspaper industry doesn’t already have it bad enough. Thanks a lot, asshole.)

Whether he’s funny or not, the network is now rewarding his poor ratings by moving him back to Conan’s hard-earned spot. (Well, they’re actually scrambling to save their asses, but same diff.) Granted, he’ll only have half an hour to jack-ass about, but that doesn’t change the fact that NBC agreed five years ago that Conan would replace him. Seriously, Jay, five years wasn’t long enough for that to sink in? (“For Mr. Leno, who made no secret that he was unhappy about being moved from ‘The Tonight Show,’ the change represents something of a vindication …” reports the NYT.) How about you do us all a favor: stop being the Brett Favre of late-night TV, go put on your leather jacket and play with your cars and motorcycles, OK?

If only NBC didn’t have “30 Rock” and the Winter Olympics, because I’d boycott their once-uncrappy network altogether, save Conan, if he stays. But I hope he tells them to eff off and heads to FOX or somewhere else. Why? Because he — and America — deserve better. That’s why.

9 Jan

Awkward is the new sexy, damnit!

Posted by Allison | Squirrel Thoughts in Funny Things That Happen To Me.

For Christmas, Zach’s mom wanted a “nice” photo of us for her to frame. So we decided to employ the photographic stylings of a J-school classmate, the uber-talented Shane McMillan, to get the job done.

Now, neither of us is very photogenic, and Zach has an issue with smiling for photos, so I knew it was going to be tough for Shane to get some good shots, though it seemed like he took about a thousand. Still, there was no way of foreseeing the extreme awkwardness that would follow. Seriously, we could have won the Awkward Engagement Photos Contest on awkwardfamilyphotos.com. (Though these are NOT engagement photos. I repeat, THESE ARE NOT ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS.)

So, without further delay, here are the most awkward of the awk:

A) Hey Zach, is that your best Blue Steel, or are you dropping Magnum on us?

Shane McMillan photos

2) This one probably  explains why my friends used to (somewhat lovingly, I think) refer to me as “Tool” Squires. As in “Your parents should have named you Tool. That’s right, Tool. Tool Squires.”

D) And if this image doesn’t inspire romance and passion in couples around the world, I don’t know what will:

Yes, I have kissed a boy before, though this this pic would suggest otherwise. I mean, that’s seriously what I look like going in for a kiss?!? Zach at least looks like he knows what he’s doing and that he might actually enjoy it; I look like I’ll be lucky to even find his mouth. If I ever have some uncontrollable urge to commit me some unsightly PDA, this image burning in my memory will surely squelch it.

Despite what these selections suggest, we didn’t look completely awk in all the photos. We had quite a few quality shots to choose from; this one turned out to be the fan favorite:

(FYI — Zach and I have nearly a dozen fans, so that’s really saying something.)

Both the fams loved their photo gifts, and we’ll hopefully never have to go through that again. After all, I’m awkward enough as it is, damnit.

8 Jan

Hello, world!

Posted by Allison | Squirrel Thoughts in Other.

Welp, here it is — my first blog post! I’m still trying to figure this all out, but there will be many fascinating Squirrel Thoughts to follow, promise!

(And yes, I did indeed keep the cheesy “Hello World!” default title for this post, but added the comma to make it more grammatically correct, natch.)

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