KimNovak.me — I am not an actress

What the heck is up with OU?

'kay... now that that's out of the way... The head referee (Jon Bible) taught me Business Law at Southwest Texas State University. Really.

Whew... Texas beat Kansas State yesterday.

Next week is the big one, though... Oklahoma. I hope we win.

I heard this year might be the last year they play at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas because both teams are demanding more money from the State Fair to play there. It costs a lot for travel and lodging and stuff! Not that I'd be particularly heartbroken... I'd rather watch the game on TV.

Today the Texans are on a bye, but Arizona is playing at Dallas. And the best thing... it's on TV! Go Arizona!! Go Emmitt!! Woo-Hoo!!

Yay!! The Texans beat the big fishies!!

The talk of the office this morning is the Astro's no hitter last night. I just don't get it. Baseball is already the most boring sport ever. Yes... even compared to golf, baseball is more boring. But it seems the most exciting thing for some people is to see a game where one of the teams never hits the ball. Huh?

Pitchers who throw no hitters should be banned from the league, not heralded!

Maybe baseball should have bigger bats. Or bigger balls. Or both bigger bats and bigger balls. Whatever it takes so we can prevent these boring no hitter games.

And while they are retooling, would it be possible to make the season shorter? Or maybe start it earlier? Let's try to get it all wrapped up before football season starts.

I watched the Heisman award ceremony tonight. I didn't know any of those athletes, so it wasn't as fun as usual. I knew Ken Dorsey from Miami, but only because Miami is doing so well. I'm not sure I really watched any Miami games closely this year, though. And I didn't have any kind of strong feeling for him to win. For me to feel strongly about a player, I have to see a great game during the year and see the candidate do well.

They showed Ricky Williams' run when he broke the NCAA rushing record. Man... I still smile real big and almost tear up everytime I see it. It's funny how I can get get so emotionally tied to a game like that.

Anyway... Congratulations to Carson Palmer on winning the Heisman. I look forward to seeing him in the NFL.

I love the holiday season. Working for a state agency, I get lots of time off. Over the years, the legislature has given us holidays instead of pay raises. And really... that's fine with me. Pay raises are nice, but there's always the chance for a merit raise or promotion to get more money coming in. In other words... if I want more money, I can work for it!

I had 3 days off for Thanksgiving. It was awesome! I went to my brother's house, and I didn't feel rushed the whole time to get there and get back. Lily did great on the trip. I was worried that she might have "an accident" at my brother's house, but she didn't. I actually got to relax my constant vigil over her for the first time since I got her. Since we came home, I've been much more relaxed, too. I let her roam through the house without worrying so much about what she's up to.

I got to see a lot of college football over the weekend. What is up with the OSU Cowboys? Two years in a row they screwed things up for the Sooners. But I sure am proud of Chris Simms and the Texas Longhorns for beating the Aggies. Woo-Hoo!! They made it look easy.

Except for Lily dog feeling kinda sick and depressed, this weekend was great. I got two things on my To Do list done. Of course, as usually happens, by the time I got them done, I had more things to add to the list.

I recorded a vocal for a collaboration with Frank Cotolo and Jimmy Stewart yesterday. And today I did full artwork for someone's CD. It's not all approved yet, but should be in a couple days. I finally finished the fourth Harry Potter book, and I got to see the first Harry Potter movie. I also went to the pet store and bought a case of canned dog food. I made it to the grocery store, too. And Lily was good while I was out of the house. I hope she does okay this week at day care. I stopped giving her the Xanax in the mornings, so she might get freaked out again. I'll do my best not to freak out myself, though. That only makes things worse.

I'm sad that the Longhorns lost. Okay... I'm not sad anymore. heh! I don't get down for long. I can't decide whether I want to cheer for Oklahoma or Texas Tech next week, though. Part of me wants to see a shake up in the Big 12. If Oklahoma hadn't lost to Texas A&M, I'd definitely go with the Sooners. But Tech would be fun to watch in the championship game. Ah shoot... I'm sure I'll root for the Sooners. It's in my blood.

I was reading this on jimmyz28's blog the other day. It's about whether we focus on numbers too heavily in sports. He used it to talk about Nascar. I don't know anything about Nascar except what I read in Jimmy's blog, so I'm going to skip on back to football.

It stems from an ESPN.com article about Emmitt Smith's rushing record. The main point is "having the most doesn't necessarily make you the best." I wonder who is arguing the other side of that? I kinda think most people would agree. And I'm an accountant type, so I place a lot of emphasis on numbers. However, good accountants know that the numbers aren't the end... they are a means to an end. A tool to help make decisions.

I can understand having the discussion, though... it's thought provoking and interesting. No.. the numbers themselves should never be the only thing driving a decision on who is the "best" at anything. But why bring this up just after Emmitt breaks the record? I can only think that the motivation is to somehow make Emmitt's feat seem less than it is. Okay... whatever. You made your point ESPN dude.

So I started thinking about numbers and how they affect team standings each year. I know more about college football than pro, so here goes...

I don't think we're all that bogged down in numbers. If we were, the top two teams in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings would have been undefeated the last 2 years, no? The last two years, we didn't even have undefeated teams in the national championship game because of the way the BCS ranks teams. And people gripe about that. But wouldn't that be pandering to the numbers? I'm not defending the BCS... there's going to be problems with any system with that much subjectivity.

The USA Today poll and the ESPN Coaches poll don't pander to the numbers either. It's based on people voting. So it's pretty subjective, too. No number pandering there (except to the extent that the voters rely on the numbers).

But it got me thinking... why are we even bogged down in the numbers in individual games? Hey... why not have the winner of a game be the *best* team instead of the team with the most points at the end? And why is a touchdown worth from 6 to 8 points? Why is a field goal worth 3? Why don't we just have some judges decide the winner after the game instead of the scoreboard? Yeah.. then we can get away from all those dang numbers.

Then again... if we didn't have numbers (scores, rushing yards, passing yards, etc.), maybe the teams and the individual players wouldn't have goals. It's harder to do well without defineable goals. And numbers are the easiest way to define a goal.

So I think it's okay to have all those numbers. And I can't wait to see who breaks Emmitt's record. But I really hope it's someone who plays for the Houston Texans next time.

Some things I was thinking about this morning:

• I've decided to support Chris Simms (UT Quarterback). Up until now, I've not really backed him like I should. Last year there was a quarterback controversy between him and Major Applewhite, and it was natural to pick one over the other. But this year there isn't a controversy. I need to let it go. He's our man, and it's gotta be tough trying to do well knowing some of the fans don't like him. Go Chris!


• If you're going to leave your desk, take your cell phone with you. No one wants to hear it ringing over and over even if it has a groovy cool ring�tone. (This is not a "note to self." I don't even own a cell phone).


• I'm not a Dallas Cowboy fan, but Emmitt Smith is a class act. I just happened to turn on the TV right before he broke that pro football rushing record. It was an emotional moment. It reminded me of when Ricky Williams broke the NCAA rushing record. Yay, Emmitt!