The Immaculate Lateral [s]...

[Precise running patterns not to scale]

By now, most of you have seen the video of my alma mater, Trinity University, and their instantly famous "immaculate lateral" football game on Saturday. This is actually a play that the then Quarterback Forrest Dunlap and I drew up at the Nugget Lounge in 1970. I'm surprised they waited so long to use it, but glad it worked. Except for the 8th, or was it the 10th, pitch back they ran it just they way we drew it up!

To the uninitiated the play looks like a hodgepodge, or at best extremely complicated. Which is why I decided to recreate our original diagram above. When seen this way, the obvious simplicity of the plan becomes evident. Doesn't it?

Update: The Immaculate Lateral [s] has taken on a life of it's own. Here is the Wikipedia analysis of the game and the The Play, which ESPN is now speculating may be the longest play, timewise, in college history.

Christmas for Our Troops...

Our service men and women, volunteers all, do a magnificent, tough job of protecting our freedoms. You can do a small, but hugely important part in showing them that they are appreciated by sending a small token of thanks this Christmas. And it's pretty darned easy. Just go to Christmas for Our Troops check our "needs" page and then take your gifts to one of our pick-up points.

Thanks to the Midland Reporter-Telegram for today's front page story, if you didn't catch it in print, here it is online. Also, frequent reader Jeff, contributes an article that he wrote mentioning Christmas For Our Troops.

Malibu fires....

As some people know, I have a connection past and present to Pepperdinie University. Pepperdine, sits on one of the most beautiful spots of any college I know of and has been in the path of the horrendous wildfires raging around Malibu. I have had several people email me and one reader, a news anchor with a premier outlet even called to see if I had any news. I didn't at the time, but do now courtesy of a contact there, Ronnie Zamora in the sports information office.

Hey Wallace,
Thanks for the concern. We're all doing fine at the moment, the fires seem to be moving east, away from campus. There is no school today and offices are closed again, but there's been no word on tomorrow yet. The winds are supposed to calm down today, and that will help the firefighters contain the fire, because wind gusts have been crazy- up to 80 mph in some areas. The school hasn't been too affected, some trees and grass have burned and a few cars in the parking lot, but all the buildings are still intact. Hopefully the fires will be put out today and people can go about their lives again, because PCH has been closed throughout the city and that has really shut Malibu down. Thanks for your concern again. I guess we just need to pray that the fires get under control and stop spreading and affecting different homes and buildings.
-Ronnie

Tennis Final....

Although you'd always like to win the big enchilada, coming in as runners up in the womens singles and doubles at a major tournament is a grand accomplishment. That's what our Pepperdine girls did today. It could have gone either way in both finals. Not to take anything away from the girl from TCU in singles, nor the great doubles team from UCLA who defeated the Wave girls, but Sylvia Kosakowski our #1 player was in both the singles and doubles finals and to get there had to play three matches a day for three straight days. That's about six hours of continuous competition level tennis each day. She was tired. I was tired watching her.

We were proud of the girls, but since Sylvia has dominated the tournament for the last three years, having previously won championships in both singles and doubles, we wished that she could have taken home one more trophy. Still, a great match for the girls.

Tennis Time...

Perhaps the best tennis event occuring in the USA this weekend is underway in Midland. The best kept secret too, apparently, with hardly a word appearing in the local paper. The attendance by local folks is well, underwhelming. I am a great tennis fan, but it sure makes me wonder why we need to spend several million dollars on a new tennis center with 30+ courts and stadium seating when no one seems interested in attending a premier event at a facility we already have.

But, none the less, this is your chance to see some of the top college players in the nation at the Racquet Club NCAA Invitational. The number and quality of teams that I noted today in attendance is amazing. UCLA, USC, Duke, the University of Miami, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UT Arlington, North Texas, Oklahoma, SMU, TCU, Rice, Boise State, Arkansas, New Mexico..and I'm sure I've left some out. Like Pepperdine, my grad school alma mater and perennial top seeded womens contenders with players like Sylvia Kosakowski. I've known Sylvia for four years now through the tournament. Sylvia is a senior this year and is the 8th ranked doubles player in college tennis, she was also recently named an "All American". Sylvia won the womens tournament 2 years ago and was a finalist in womens doubles last year.

She looked good today winning all her singles matches and with doubles partner Anete Bandere from Latvia, she should be a potetial doubles champion again. Of course Anete always looks good, winning or losing. If you have any interest in tennis or just want to spend some time up close and personal with some great college athletes, try and make it to the Racquet Club this weekend.

The War.....

I've been meaning to comment on "The War" since it aired on PBS. I knew I would and seeing Ken Burns speak Tuesday night made me not let the opportunity slip away. I won't go into what a great series The War was, if you saw it you know, just what it meant to me. And that's a great amount.

Most of you know that my Dad died last November, one of a trilogy of tragedies in my life that occured last Fall that I'm still dealing with. My Dad fought in Italy and like most veterans of that age talked about it very, very little. Only in the last 5 or 6 years of his life did he reveal anything other than than he'd been in Italy, saw his best friend killed the first day there, later had his feet frozen and had been evacuated back to England for the duration of the war.

In going through records my Mom has had but had not shown me until my Dad's death, I've learned more. I knew that he'd been in the 45th Infantry Division but that was the extent of things. I've recently learned that he was a replacement in the division, sent to re-man the 179th Regiment after the horrendous losses they had sustained after they landed in Southern Italy. My Dad landed at Anzio.

Many people think of the ground war in Europe as starting with the "D-Day" invasion in France. "The War" did a brilliant job of portraying, in detail, that the war in Europe had started in violent fashion in Italy more than year before our forces landed at Normandy. Italy saw some of the bloodiest fighthing with the heaviest ground losses of the war. My Dad was with the 45th in their march up Italy, until two months after "D-Day" when they were sent to start a second front in France; they landed in Southern France near St. Tropez and started slogging towards Germany. My Dad didn't finish the march. After 8+ months in combat his feet were frozen in the French Alps.

What made "The War" very special for me occured in one 3 or 4 second clip in the 2nd episode. In this small slice of video a group of soldiers was shown standing around talking in Italy after the Anzio breakout. Nothing special about a group of grunts standing around talking except that one of them was the spitting image of my Dad. This was a fairly close shot, the soldiers being without helmets and one looked just like my Dad, young and handsome. Now, I know, the odds against this being my Dad are great...but wasn't it wonderful to believe it was and to get to see him all those years ago.

Sputnik....

I couldn't let today's anniversary go by unnoticed. Frankly it would have been lost on me unless I had read a small blurb in today's local paper. Today, 50 years ago, the world went into space. The Russian's launched the 183 lb Sputnik I into orbit to do nothing more than to prove it could be done and send out weak radio signals to prove that it was there.

I remember the day, or rather night, well. I was a young lad living with my family in New Orleans and vividly remember the entire neighborhood being out front in the street trying to catch a glimpse of Sputnik. I don't believe that we did, but just knowing it was there was science fiction come to life.

Just 12 short years later the US would land men on the moon. Fairly amazing considering the technology of the time.

Hear Sputniks actual transmission......