dinner at the grandparents' house tonight. mashed potatores and creamed peas (who knew?) and corn and a roast of some sort and, more importantly, fine company. i wish there were more highlights that i had to report. probably the best part came during texas-texas tech, when grandma revealed, during a series of quick-cut, low-angle highlights, "i'm never sure when the plays are really happening and when they're [searching] ... [searching] ... they're [searching] ... [searching] ... replays." besides dinner, i got four steak knives, a full-sized coffee pot (pot only), and 'antique' beer ... goblets.

my god ben gordon is incredible. absolutely incredible. i didn't see much of the bulls game (listened from 8:00-3:00 in the car, was in the elevator until the 0:56 point, watched from then on), but i saw enough to understand that he's already a primo nba scorer. i'd expect, despite the fact that he's just over 14 now, him to average about 16 per for the season and win rookie of the year.

i don't care if shaq went down (although i hope he's better), the bulls beat eastern conference favorites miami tonight, and you can't discount them as a contender. sure they're too young, but so were the magic when they went to the finals in the year of the mj comeback.

treem writes that he's one of 12 people who thinks northwestern has a chance against illinois tomorrow, and i similarly am part of the idiot rank. that is, i think the cats can play with 'em.

they've been playing well of late, and they played illinois tight until the final eight minutes or so, and vince scott is a completely different player at this point. you figure thompson sees 15 minutes, and he *has* to be better than he was in the first meeting. while i've followed all, i've only seen one of the last six games, but i've surmised that the press has been a much bigger part of things. what that means? mohamed is active, and when mohamed is active, good things happen.

i think that, ultimately, northwestern'll become victim number 28 for illinois. but, if i were a betting man, i'd take northwestern and the points. (i can't find the line. i'd imagine it's between 11 and 16, which is a wide range. i've now searched for the line for 20 minutes, with no success. i did find covers.com, which has incredible information for the sports gambling addict!)