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The Daily Dose/December 19, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
This will surprise you, but we have notes from around the Human Experience for you today!!!...And Aishwarya Rai Month continues at the Column Four Foto!
THE PEANUT GALLERY: One Greg C. of Las Vegas was so moved by our Capsule Review of Louis L'Amour's Last of the Breed that he wrote us!
We Are Not Making That Up! We quote:
I liked this book a little more than you did. The Soviet bad guy who hunted Mack was a good character. Perhaps you should have commented on him in your review.
A Suggestion: Perhaps Mr. Greg C. should keep his goddamn fucking yap shut. We are the alpha and omega, the first and last words in book reviews, especially capsule book reviews.
Insert Rim Shot Here: We're kidding. We're flattered Greg took time to write.
FYI: The Soviet bad guy he refers to is named Alekhin, a Yakut who is charged by Colonel Zamatev with finding Joe Mack, a task he is more than qualified for as he is as handy in the forest and wilderness as the man he is chasing is. Alekhin takes a completely different tack in hunting down Mack the Soviet Army yahoos also charged with finding him, showing a patience and a wisdom utterly lacking by the army.
And, in fact, he was mentioned, briefly, in an early version of the column, but for reasons we are entirely sure of, didn't make the final cut.
FunFact: It was not clear, or maybe it just wasn't clear to us, whether Alekhin was a soldier or civilian, although a rank was never mentioned, so he was probably a civilian.
FOURTH TIME'S A CHARM: Official Writer's Shack fave the Mount Union College Purple Raider football team returns to its natural habitat - the NCAA Division III national championship game - Saturday, taking on defending national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Salem, Virginia.
Stop Us If You've Heard This Before: Mount Union will be looking for their tenth national championship. Their first came in 1993, their last in 2006. They were national runners-up in 2003 and 2007. UW-Whitewater won their only national title last year.
Tough Times: Recent times have not always been kind to official Writer's Shack faves. Not only did our Purple Raiders lose in last year's Stagg Bowl, but our All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby union team, lost in the quarterfinals of last year's rugby World Cup. For reasons we are still not entirely sure of, they lost to the host nation France in a match played in Wales. Go figure.
Fast Follow-up: We did come back strong in the recent Summer Olympics, with our Norwegian chick handball squad and our USA men's volleyball team both winning gold.
A Little History: The Stagg Bowl was first played in 1969 as the NCAA's West Regional championship from 1969-72. (The East Region's counterpart was the Knute Rockne Bowl). It became the Div. III national championship game in 1973, the same year the NCAA began offering a national championship playoff in Division II.
FunFact: Wittenberg won the first Div. III national title defeating Juniata College 41-0.
Today's Trivia Question Better Be Damn Good: Augustana College of Illinois is the only school to win four straight Stagg Bowls (1983-86). The only other school to win as many as three straight Stagg Bowls is - and this will surprise you - Mount Union, which has done it twice, 1996-98 and 2000-02.
Oh, Jesus H: Mount Union and UW-Whitewater are first schools to meet in the Stagg Bowl four years in a row. They were also the first teams to meet in the Stagg Bowl three straight years and in consecutive years.
Yo Mama: Unlike some major sports, where trash talking is common, a conference call this week with the two head coaches sounded more like a love in, with Mount Union coach Larry "National Title" Kehres saying:
"Whitewater has consistently received a first-place vote for the No. 1 team in the country. I don't know if we're allowed to say (which team) we vote for, but if I could say it, I would say I voted for Whitewater."
I Think I'm Going To Be Sick: Kehres was so sweet you could glaze donuts with him, finishing up with this valentine:
"Because when you are the champion, you are the champion."
Will Somebody Please Get Us A Barf Bag? UW-Whitewater coach Lance Leipold, wasn't about to be outdone, however, doing everything but signing up for the Mount Union booster club:
"Our goal for many years has been to be mentioned in the same conversation and same sentence as Mount Union,"
He's doing a pretty good job of it as the former UW-Whitewater quarterback is 27-2 in two seasons.
Numbers Game: UW-Whitewater could have its work cut out for it. It's tough to say a 13-1 defending national champion is rebuilding, but we're such Mount Union homers here we're going to say it because UW-Whitewater lost 24 seniors off of last year's squad, including four-fifths of their offensive line and their entire secondary. 27 of the 52 players on the 2008 squad didn't play in last year's title game.
OTOH: UW-Whitewater does come into the game with two (2) 1,000 yard rushers, so they can probably run the ball a bit.
And In This Corner: Mount Union features both the NCAA's all time leading rusher Nate Kmic, and the 2008 Gagliardi Trophy winner, given to Div. III's best player, quarterback Greg Micheli. Good luck stopping them. Kmic's 129 career touchdowns and 774 career points are both NCAA all-division records. Kmic has rushed for 1,062 in the 2008 postseason alone!
Now You Know: Nate Kmic pronounces his last name "kuh-MICK".
TOKEN ON THIS DATE ACTION: On this date, in 1972, - 36 years ago - Apollo 17 concludes its mission, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. It was the last manned lunar mission, and there won't be another one for, at least, ten years.
Thought For The Day: Zenas' constancy to Werner wasn't something the poets wrote sonnets about. -Len Deighton, Spy Hook
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: John Tyler, whose first wife Letitia died in 1842, and who married Julia in 1844, was the first US President who became a widower and who remarried while in office.
Today's Stumper: Who are the teams who have appeared in four straight NCAA football championship games. - Answer next time!
Comments? Recipes? Complaints? Email the Writer's Shack here!
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