Thursday Night Lights

Like I said. So worth it.

It was like 2006 last night. What's the word on Rutgers moving all our games to Thursdays?

Earn Your Pay

Rutgers plays USF on national television tonight. Not that it matters, but it's happening. We're playing for second place at this point, but I just don't think I could stand another International Bowl.

On that note, I noticed on ESPN the other day that Greg Schiano pulled in $2.07 million last year. That's $230,000 for every Big East title he's failed to win. And over $400,000 more than the next highest paid coach in the conference. So worth it ...

Captain EMO

Best Blog Ever

Just thought I'd mention that yours truly received a link today from the fine people over at Best Week Ever!

That's right. "Eagle-eyed."

For those keeping score, that marks my second career shout-out from Best Week Ever. But why must every major blog that links to me insist on referring to this blog as "Cooperific"? Why???

UPDATE: I don't know how I failed to notice this, but Marc rightly pointed out that somehow both of the posts linked on Best Week Ever related to Curb Your Enthusiasm. I'm not sure I've written more than two posts on Curb ever. What are the odds?

A Very Google Christmas

The good news: Google is paying for free wi-fi in 47 of our nation's airports from now through the holiday season.

The bad news: I have no plans to be in the Spokane airport anytime soon.

Say it with me, Google: Newark. LAX.

Mallrats

A Sunday evening wedding can really screw up your television schedule. I've been on the brink of having the Mad Men season finale spoiled for me for the past two days. It's been a harrowing 48 hours.

So I was catching up on my Sunday television -- Mad Men was incredible, by the way -- and I start watching Curb. Larry's in a Banana Republic when a fire alarm goes off, and they evacuate the store. And as they evacuated, I noticed something. And I rewinded. Was that ...? Could that be ...? It was!

Ben Affleck?!?! No doubt about it, that's him. As a random extra in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. How the mighty have fallen. I mean, I heard State of Play bombed, but this is just sad. Ouch. And how have I not heard about this anywhere? I can't be the only eagle-eyed Curb-watching Gigli fan to notice. Just kidding. There are no Gigli fans.

What I find least believable about this isn't that both Larry David and Ben Affleck are in the same Banana Republic in Santa Monica, but that no one around them seems to notice at all. I mean, I know there's a "don't talk to celebrities" code, but come on. There would definitely have been some iPhone photo-taking going on. But then again, no one seemed to notice when it was on national television. It's been a long 12 years since Good Will Hunting.

Another Reason To Hate George W. Bush

For eight long years, President Bush put a curse on my New York Yankees. ... It’s not lost on me, as a lifelong Yankee fan, that the Bronx Bombers won the World Series four times during Bill Clinton’s presidency, the last time in 2000. On Wednesday, they won it again — in the first year of Barack Obama’s administration.

And that's coming from a self-described Bush lackey! As though there weren't enough reasons to hate the man. But wait. There's more.

The previous eight Yankee victories took place on the Democrats’ watch, during the terms of Presidents John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Under Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. and George W. Bush, the Yankees never won. ...

If you’re a Democrat who wants the Yankees to lose — like the Boston Red Sox president, Larry Lucchino — you need to start voting Republican. And if you’re a Yankee fan like me, well, I just can’t bear to say it.

Lying us into a war was one thing, but now I'm supposed to start rooting for the Red Sox? Unforgivable.

The First First Down

In my carelessness, I neglected to mark the 140th anniversary of the first ever collegiate football game, played between Rutgers and Princeton on the College Avenue Campus, on November 6th.

Thankfully, the Wall Street Journal was more attentive.

The Kids Aren't Alright

Remember how the 2008 presidential election was the harbinger that a new generation was now engaged in the political process, refusing to inherit the apathy of those before it? Yeah, it wasn't.

If there's one lesson of national significance to come out of the New Jersey gubernatorial election in 2009 -- and this may be the only one -- it's this: the youth vote that helped propel Barack Obama to the White House is gone. Ephemeral. Fleeting. Unless there's someone named "Obama" on the ballot, they're not voting. And let's hope at least that continues three years from now.

In 2008, the youth vote constituted 17% of the New Jersey electorate. In 2009, only 9%. And, in an ironic twist, 18-29 year-olds are the only age group Corzine actually won. Estimating the total vote count among the top three vote-getters at 2,345,070, 9% would be approximately 211,056. Had the 2008 turnout numbers held, 17% would be 398,662, a difference of 187,606 votes. Christie's margin of victory? 98,643. I'd say "do the math" if I hadn't already done it for you. Low youth turnout cost Jon Corzine this election.

For all the hand-wringing about what last Tuesday's election means for the president and the Democratic party nationally, there should be one huge takeaway that I think is flying a bit too low under the radar: if Democrats hope to win in 2010, they'll need to remind young voters that elections aren't just held every four years.

That Was It

Saw This Is It this weekend. An hour too long, but I can't wait to see the actual concert.

Oh. Right.

I guess I'll just have to settle for the inevitable sequel:

Wedding Crashers

I'm at a college friend's wedding right now. I'm pretty excited about it, because the last time a friend from college got married, this happened:

An open bar is a beautiful thing. Here's hoping for a repeat performance.

This British Life

I just thought it was worth taking a moment to point out that an entire segment on last week's episode of This American Life was about British people. I figure someone had to call them out on it.

Learn the title of your show, people. These colo(u)rs don't run.

Whale Whores

Remember how I mocked the show Whale Wars a few months ago? No. Fine, re-read it.

With me now? Good. Yeah, it's a shit show in so many ways. But I thought no one but me and my friends even bothered to watch the show, let alone incessantly mock it. It appears I was wrong. Last week's South Park was devoted entirely to mocking Whale Wars. Needless to say, it was the greatest episode over.

Seriously, they nailed it. To wit:

The entire episode is worth watching, especially if you've ever seen Whale Wars, which I recognize is precisely none of you. Apparently, you can say the words "vegan pussies" on basic cable. Who knew?

Cartman also has a lovely rendition of Lady Gaga's "Pokerface" in the episode. As good as it was, I'm not sure anything can beat this:

Mr. Cooper's Sing-Along Blog

I actually got some questions this week about my Halloween costume, Dr. Horrible. As in, what is that?

Shameful, people. Truly shameful. I do this now as a public courtesy:

Try not to embarrass yourselves again.

Nice Try, Craig's List

As alluded to yesterday, I've spent quite a bit of time this week trying to track down appropriate pieces of furniture for my new apartment. Preferably of the inexpensive variety. And there's only one place to turn for that particular type: Craig's List.

Ahhhh, Craig's List. Where one man's junk is another man's sofa. Craig's List was kind enough to furnish me with both a TV stand and a living room chair this week -- both new, mind you -- but in my search I began to notice a disturbing trend. Check out the amount of hits the following search turns up:

"Shabby chic"? You're not fooling anyone.

The Bullet Goes Hollywood

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Weird. And all of a sudden it started name-dropping like crazy. Not cool.

Encouraging Words

The results of the New York bar exam came out at the end of last week. Above the Law reported the day before that they would be released the next day. I'm praying -- praying -- that they don't do that for California. As of now, I understand that they're releasing them on November 20th. If they end up deciding to release them early, please let them just do it. I don't think I could stand an entire day's worth of building anticipation.

After New York's results were released, BarBri decided to send an encouraging e-mail to those of us still waiting for the California results. What follows -- I kid you not -- are the first three sentences of that e-mail:

Dear BARBRI Alum:

Our phones have been ringing with inquiries as to when the California Bar Exam results will be released.

Results are targeted to be released on November 20th.

Many of you may want to take a second bar in the near future.

Wow. Thanks. In context, it appears the were referring to the bar of another state. But still. Tactful.

RU, Rah Rah?

According to the Dow Jones Newswires’s John Koll, the FBI has taken into custody fourteen persons in an ongoing insider-trading probe of the hedge-fund industry. Among them, reports CNBC, are employees of law firm Ropes & Gray. ... The Ropes & Gray lawyer identified as having been taken into custody is Arthur Cutillo, an associate. ... He got his JD in 2005 from Villanova, and got his BS from Rutgers in 1999.

On the bright side, this may be good news for graduating law students. It appears Ropes & Gray may have an opening.

Swallowing The Competition

 "GET IN MY BELLY!" Chris Christie should never be photographed with his mouth open. Never ever.

So Christie came through with a huge win as the heavy favorite. Get it? I'm saying he's fat, people. New Jersey has a very, very fat governor. Like, orca fat. Alright, enough.

HE'S FAT. Sorry. I'm done now.

I have to say, the result surprised me. I almost posted Tuesday afternoon my prediction that Corzine would win by 5, fairly bold considering the closeness of the polls. New Jersey polls have, in recent years, consistently shown a much tighter race than the end result ultimately indicated -- I assumed the pattern would hold. It did ... just not for the Democrat. I admit that's an outcome I simply didn't anticipate. I guess it's a good thing I didn't post that prediction. Though I just told you about it. Damn.

As disappointed as I am with the election of Governor-Elect Bacala, it was hardly the most upsetting news of the night. That distinction went, clearly, to the state of Maine. Enough with the voting down of the gay marriage, blue states. You're all going to be so embarrassed about this in, like, ten years.

Nor was Corzine's loss an especially damaging blow for the Democratic party nationally. In fact, I'd say Tuesday night was an outstanding night for President Obama. Hear me out.

For all the talk that the NJ and VA governor's races were a "referendum on President Obama," I don't think anyone could reasonably make that case. In reality, 57% of New Jersey voters -- the ones who just elected Governor Krispie Kreme -- approve of the job President Obama is doing, and, accordingly, 60% said that President Obama played no factor in their vote. That, to me, is wholly unsurprising. Governor Corzine is not an unknown quantity. We know him. We don't like him. I don't know a single person who voted for him that was excited about doing so. Had the Democrat been a challenger with nothing but the imprimatur of Obama to propel him to victory, there might be something to the talk that this election was somehow a repudiation of Obama. That simply isn't the case. The only person this election was a repudiation of was Jon Corzine. Nor were the issues at play in the campaign issues of national significance. They had little to nothing to do with the Obama agenda, regardless of the rhetoric coming out of the White House in the days leading up the election. Jon Corzine lost on state issues, not his adherence to the White House agenda.

There were two races on Tuesday night, though, in which national issues were entirely at the center of the campaign: New York's 23rd, a seat that hadn't been held by a Democrat since the 1800s, and the California 10th. Democrats won both of those seats. In campaigns in which Obama's agenda and job performance were directly at issue, Democrats won. In campaigns based entirely on self-contained state issues, Democrats lost. That says far more about the state of the Democratic party organization in New Jersey and Virginia than it does about anything on a national-level, regardless of the perception Tuesday night. To me, that's a good news night for President Obama. That's your referendum. Even though Obama "wasn't watching returns." Yeah. Riiiight.

One last parochial issue in New Jersey. On a night that saw, I believe, a repudiation of fiscal mismanagement and overspending in New Jersey, I find it odd that New Jerseyeans saw fit to pass yet another $400 million bond initiative. The cause -- open space preservation -- was certainly worthwhile, but New Jersey can't continue to dig itself into a fiscal hole and then complain that we're in debt. Give it a dedicated funding source, sure, or work some money into the next budget, but borrowing even more money at a time of extreme economic difficulty in the state is completely irresponsible, and at odds with what I see as the message New Jersey voters just sent to their elected officials.

Looking forward to a four year gubernatorial effort to make the Twinkie the official state snack. Booker 2013.

27

'Nuff said.

Coast To Coast

Is anybody reading this? Anyone? Hellooooo?

Good. Thanks for hanging in there. I know I've been delinquent in posting since my arrival in L.A. -- one week to set up an entire apartment can have that effect. I can't imagine what having to balance the blog with actual work will be like. These blogging droughts may be more frequent than desired.

In any case, I'm back on the east coast for a few weeks now before heading to California for good. It's 1 AM here ... but only 10 PM for me. Let's see if I can't make good on some of this back-blog. I apologize for the fact that the next few posts may be a bit dated. That's what I get for wasting so much time trying to find a TV stand.

Today I flew in 5 hours what it took me 8 days to do in a car. Terrible. The good news is, it resulted in some pretty cool photos. My road trip pictures are up here and here. But I think of all the ones I took, this has got to be my favorite:

Cody, Wyoming is a happening place.