Down Periscope.

Lately, life has gone to the dogs.

AT Readers,

I must confess, these last few days have sucked and I apologize for the lack of content. I'm in the process of moving and my life has been turned upside down. I'm half moved in to a new apartment, still have things in my old one, and basically everything surrounding me is a giant clusterf*ck of disorganization. I hate living like this and don't expect to post much until my life is back in working order. Furthermore, I am working on other extremely important non-blog projects to which I must devote my full attention during the coming weeks. I'll be back around the middle of June.

Rest assured that when I come back, I'm coming back strong. I hope you don't give up on me during my sabbatical - but there are like a million other Michigan blogs for you in the meantime. I'll miss writing more than you'll miss reading.

Yours Truly,

CC

I Wonder If He Knew It Was Me!

Gary, Big Billy Dollaz, and the Cowbell Commander

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to go to the NYC stop of the Rich Rodriguez on the Road tour. While I was there, I couldn't resist the opportunity get a picture with Big Billy Dollaz himself. I didn't have the cojones to ask for a solo picture with BBD because of the large crowd and general chaos which was following Dollaz wherever he went, but thankfully AT VIP Gary played Kramer to my Jerry and we got a picture for the ages.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah boyeeeeeeeee!

Will Big Billy Dollaz Make It Rain For RichRod?

Buyout shmuyout, yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah booyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

By now, most of us know that Rich Rodriguez's deposition has been released for our reading pleasure. Will this solve anything? While I have no legal experience, my gut leads me to believe:

1) Neither Rodriguez or WVU is going to budge on their stance in the near future.
2) After much bitterness and lawyer's fees, Rodriguez and WVU will eventually just settle the buyout sometime over the summer and get on with their lives.

Now while the potential settlement will probably be less than $4,000,000, it will most likely still be a hefty chunk of change. The question is: will Bill Martin throw a few bucks Rodriguez's way in order to soften the blow - and should he be obliged to? Is there any negative ramifications for Michigan if Bill Martin tells Rodriguez he's on his own?

Thoughts por favor.

Autumn Thunder Book Club: To Hell With Calories.

There's no excuses for not reading this.

Sorry for the lack of posting this week. I got caught up in a great new book and I just couldn't seem to put it down. What was the captivating material, you ask? It's "To Hell With Calories," a new book written by Charlie Weis describing his exceptional diet and lifestyle. Some people may find some of Weis' favorite recipes unconventional. Take for example, the triple Butterfinger cupcakes topped with melted Swedish Fish (p.47) While the calorie count is nearly 900 per serving, they do sound scrumptious. Other tasty, yet potentially dangerous recipes include the deep-fried M&M encrusted butter sticks and licorice battered in chocolate syrup.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the exercise regimen that accompanies the recipes. Not being one to waste time, Weis advocates doing chin-ups to speed up the workout. "For every chin you have, you get that chin-ups many done per rep. So every time I pull myself up, I count six reps. It really gets you to that post-workout snack much more quickly."

Buy or skip? I say skip. Even though the things Weis says do sound nice, it will probably just get you really bloated, fat, lazy, and let you down in the end.

NCAA 2009 Preview: Recruiting Shenanigans!

The best players come with a price - your morality.

Autumn Thunder is totally stoked to leak the first bit of news regarding the recruiting features in NCAA 2009: the premier of the Recruiting Shenanigans feature. An anonymous source at EA sports has passed me this unofficial (and admittedly low-quality) screen shot, and to say the least, the recruiting season in NCAA 2009 will be much more entertaining than in years past. While in previous editions, players had to go through five mind-numbing weeks of convincing players to sign their letters of intent based on the virtues of academics, campus lifestyle, playing time and the like, gamers now have more options. Do you think you could have convinced a young man like Ryan Perriloux to sign with you because of campus tradition? Noooooooo. Could guys like Chris Henry and Pacman Jones be persuaded to join your team based on your student section? Ha! Good one.

These days, you need to promise some players a little something extra, and EA is finally incorporating this pink elephant into the recruiting area of their games. Easy professers? Drugs? Guns? It's in the game!