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Saturday, Jan. 04, 2003 - 12:17 p.m. I just read this story that originally ran in the Los Angeles Times. The link to the Times story is dead, so I lifted the paragraphs below from WTOPNEWS : Man Tries to Smuggle Monkeys in Pants (Los Angeles, CA) -- An Orange County, California has pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle monkeys in his pants. The "Los Angeles Times" reports that when Robert John Cusack arrived from Indonesia last June, LAX authorities found 50 orchids in his luggage after four rare birds flew out. When inspectors asked him if he had anything else to hide, he said there were monkeys in his pants. Sure enough, a search revealed a pair of endangered pigmy primates. The monkeys are now thriving at the LA Zoo, but the birds are dead. His attorney said Cusack bought the animals on the black market in an attempt to rescue them. This man has to be a genius! Maybe they haven�t heard of the new security measures the government has implemented since 911? Anyway�.the story is sad to me because the rare birds didn�t survive after escaping into the airport terminal. People will do anything for money, though, so smuggling rare plants and animals happens in this country ever day. I couldn�t let this one pass without adding the line in the title �Is that a pair of monkeys in your pants, or are you just glad to see me?� Don�t take much to amuse me, does it? My all-time short entry posted last night? All I had time to write was the line �How about those Buckeyes!� How about them, indeed! They came into the college football national title game a 10 � point underdog. I don�t think I heard one �expert commentator' say they had a chance to win this game all week. They fell behind early, but, like it did all year, the Buckeye defense took over the game, shutting down the Hurricanes until late in the fourth quarter. Miami tied the game with a short field goal as time ran out in regulation. In the first overtime period, both teams scored a touchdown. I actually turned off my t.v. after I thought that Ohio State had lost the game. On fourth down, one of their receivers had dropped a pass in the end zone. Since it was a fourth down play, the Miami players started celebrating on the field. But they were a little too early, because the official in the end zone flagged the defensive back for pass interference. That gave the Buckeyes the ball on the 3 yard line, which the turned into a touchdown a few plays later. I watched this upstairs in Codeman�s room. Like I said, I had already shut the t.v. off downstairs. After Ohio State managed to score a second touchdown to start the second overtime, Miami was also helped out by the officials on a pass interference play. After another penalty, Miami ended up first and goal from Ohio State 2 yard line. Two rushes and an incomplete pass left the Hurricanes fourth and goal from the 1. Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey (the Heisman trophy winner this year) then tried to force a pass between two Buckeye defensive backs. When the ball fell to the end zone turf incomplete, the Ohio State Buckeyes were the national champions. Why do I care about this game, you might ask? After all, I don�t live anywhere near Ohio , I am a fan of the University of Illinois (who also lost to the Buckeyes in 2 overtimes earlier this fall), so I usually pull against them (Why am I a fan of Illinois? North Dakota doesn�t have a national powerhouse college football team, after all). But once the bowl season starts, I always pull for Big Ten teams. After watching the other teams play all fall, I get to know their players well enough to have a rooting interest in their games, too. If a fellow Big Ten team wins in a bowl game (or, for that matter, if one of our basketball teams , mens or womens, does well in the NCAA tourney), it makes all the teams I the conference look good. This year, all the sports publications and pundits complained about how week the Big Ten was in football. They did have a point because the conference has only had one team get at least a share of the nation title (Michigan, with Nebraska splitting the pools back in 1997) one time in the past 35 years. The last time Ohio State won the title was 1968! I may be old to y�all, but I was only 7 years old that year. For some reason, I don�t remember them winning the Rose Bowl for the crown that January 1st. This football season, 7 Big Ten teams made it to bowl games. They were underdogs (according to Las Vegas odds makers) in every game. Their final record was 5-2, with several of the games blowouts in their favor. The conference also has the National Champion for the 2002-2003 college football season. Not bad, for a �week� group of football teams�.. By the way�why won�t the NFL adopt an overtime system like the NCAA uses? Each team gets a chance to handle the ball in overtime. Each team gets the ball 25 yards from the endzone. Every other rule is the same, except there is no game clock. Each team gets one timeout per overtime. It makes for some very exciting finishes. It gets rid of tie games (I hate those!), and makes coaches be creative in their play calling. If they aren�t, they loose the game. The NFL still has that damn �sudden death� overtime setup. It gives the team who wins the coin toss (unless you are the coach of the Lions, right Caribou2?) a chance to win the game as quickly as returning the kickoff for a touchdown (the Bears have won overtimes this way twice through the years) or with a long field goal with a few first downs, without the ball ever being in the hands of the other team�s offense. Dumb system. The game usually ends in an anti-climatic way with one team kicking a short field goal. There has been talk of owners wanting to change to something more like the college method of deciding regulation tie game. If the NFL wants to add a little spice to their games (and eliminate those damn ties), they better change their overtime system this coming year. There are two Alberta Clippers headed down from Canada, with a forecast here of scattered freezing rain and light snow. I am still on day call, so I won�t have to work unless the first one arrives before 3:30. Until then, I am stuck waiting to see what happens. I plan on getting out of the house at 3:31 if they haven�t called me by then�.
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