Tag Archives: College Football

Ricky Bustle Announces Resignation as University of Louisiana Coach!

Ricky Bustle will not be the head coach of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Ragin’ Cajuns football team next season. Using private funds the university will buy out his $100,000 remaining in rights on his contract and also attempt to pay the next coach more money. Called both a firing and a resignation the exact process is unclear but the decision was  announced as being that of the Athletic Director when he gave his most recent press conference at this posting. The tenure of the coach was marked by successes and failures worth noting. 

The Ragin’ Cajuns Football coach who came in to take the place of coach Baldwin in 2001 is now resigning from his position as head football coach after a bad year overall. Bustle made the Cajuns bowl eligible for several seasons but was not very successful at getting bowls and often had the Cajuns in that relatively tiny group that is bowl eligible but does not get a bowl. He let the conference championship elude him repeatedly when some thought he should have it.

Bustle did a great deal to improve attendance, rebuild community support and bring some big event games to the schedule again. Many of us will remember those contributions. Playing Southern and Mc Neese were both great home events at Cajun Field. Now the school will be looking for a replacement.

I have a suggestion. Get Brandon Stokely, Jake Delhomme, Brian Mitchell and Louis Cook on the committee in any capacity they can serve in as well a handful of others. If these people are involved in a search committee of ten or fifteen appointed officers I believe we will achieve a good result. Recruit the committee first. Then we can recruit the right coach!

Thursday Rounded Up to What?

1. Yesterday was Veterans Day. It was Armistice day in the UK and much of the British Commonwealth.  I did watch most of President Obama’s ceremony at Arlington although I had a hard time finding it at first.

2.Tomorrow is Friday the 13th.  I am not going to plan much to observe that incidence but it is the fact and one many people will note — including me I suppose.

3. Tomorrow is my mother’s birthday.  Give her a call if you know her.

4. My father, brother Simon, niece Alyse and brother’s fiancée Brooke have gone down to Mexico.  They will be there through Thanksgiving. Most years we have a large Thanksgiving feast in the House there with different members of the family, missionaries and staff hosting the feast. I have only been to a few of these. My mother and brother Joseph will be joining them down there as well. I am not sure exactly what my own plans will be yet — although I have some ideas in mind. They  will have a group of short-term missioners down with them as well and probably all of the family will be back here by December first or second.

5.The UK Parliament has ended or is ending its term and is gearing up for the State Opening. The Queen’s Speech and all the rituals are in advanced preparation I am sure.  I wrote a little verse for the occasion:

High Ways of Robery: Acrostic Verse

How dear it does appear to appear a peer.
I presume it would seem queer to disappear,
“George, is Baroness Murphy not yet here?”
“Her ladyship found no kit or gear we hear.”
*
Worthies waiting for worthy wear wearies.
And every chevron must match the ranks
Yet a baroness may fear college dearies.
Students tripping lords as evil pranks.
*
Only few match the lined cap of maintenance
Fur is humble rabbit in stoat’s appearance.
*
Rarely our health scholarly Baroness wears
Our race’s white and spotted skins about.
Because too few serfs, traps and affairs
England has given her to remove doubt.
Ravenscroft and Ede must live as well.
Yes, the Opening by robes all can tell.

For the context:  http://lordsoftheblog.net/2009/11/10/in-the-red/

6. I did a good number of things with my niece Anika and  nephew Soren yesterday. We had a n enjoyable visit and then I went to see the film Amelia. I enjoyed and recommend it.  When I got back however there were chores to attend to and my foot which gives me trouble from time to time was in full blazing pain and I overlooked the Country Music Awards which I otherwise would have watched until it was simply too late. I hope to catch some “re-runs” on CMT but it is not the same of course.

7.The weather is beautiful here lately but I am not doing all that well in terms of enjoying it because of nagging health problems that have chosen this time to flare up. Ah well …. Life is seldom a perfect paradise here on planet Earth.

8.The New Orleans Saints are still undefeated. The Ragin’  Cajuns are not completely out of the bowl picture and the LSU Tigers are still ranked.

9. Healthcare legislation still dominates the picture in congressional discussion, media coverage and debate.

That concludes this Thursday’s round-up. I will hope to be around before next Thursday in my other kinds of posts and to round things up next Thursday.

Another Collection and Composite Blog Post

Having avoided just using this blog for brief bulleted points on personal and mainstream news for the majority of its brief tenure I find that I am doing exactly that again after doing a “round-up, jambalaya and potpourri” only a few days ago. So here are a mix of personal news tidbits, my own views on some mainstream news stories and other miscellaneous tidbits of fact and information. Numbered items in no real order other than numerical are:

1. The Pope and Bishop of Rome has opened the door to the Catholic Church to those catholic Christians of the Anglican Communion. He has stopped short of creating an Anglican rite of the Catholic Church but he has stated that he will allow congregations to exist to be structured under their own discipline and use largely their existing liturgies. He has stated that although most ancient communions do not allow married men to become bishops and therefore they may not be able to practice their existing or hoped for episcopacy he will recognize the exercise of discipline by senior prelates. I did not get all this from  the official Vatican website but if it is all true it is almost exactly what I would consider the very best possible pastoral decision. I was never a fan of Cardinal Jozef Ratzinger but Pope Benedict the XVI is making another extraordinarily good decision which shows that he really is capable of greatness and is in fact great in his own way.  God Bless him. There are a few less obvious points to make:

GOOD

i. In America and other places where there are few Eastern Orthodox and Uniate Churches it will educate people a great deal about Church structure to see this in action if it can occur.

ii. It cannot help to make people in the Anglican Communion feel that Roman Catholics value their faith experience and faith communion.

PROBLEMATIC  

i. The Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury and a number of others may feel that the Vatican is “sheep stealing” and this could become an obstacle to further unity and reconciliation.

ii. This will have the possible effect of obscuring the royalist aspect of Christian Tradition which (while I believe it is wrongly distorted and in one way overdrawn) is best preserved in Anglican tradition and is not so secure in Roman Catholicism but is very much one of two parts most at the heart of the historical Christ experience and phenomena on which all Churches and THE CHURCH must rest and abide.

Nonetheless, despite those who must be hurt and despite the imperfections of all real actions to do anything — This is a great day. If this is effected it will open the doors to futures which are being horribly cut-off from the Christian people. I wish everyone involved the best.

2. I went back to the University of Louisiana and bought a ticket and a spirit shirt as well as picking up a copy of my brother John Paul’s graduation year yearbook. I am a little excited about the Homecoming Game Saturday and will be hoping for an easy trip there and back, a good game and a fitting celebration.

3. My brother Joseph killed the first buck of his life here at Big Woods two days ago. He has killed a legal doe on a hunt before but not a buck. He killed and slaughtered it and his fiancee  Brooke supervised the cooking and we all had delicious healthy tenderloin for lunch on Monday. There was of course a lot of meat left and that will feed various family members healthy, lean and tasty meat for a while (and probably some of his friends as well).

4. On the Lords of the Blog I was involved in dialog with New Zealanders that both brings back old memories and is leading to unusual places.

http://lordsoftheblog.net/2009/10/18/another-parliamentary-blog/

http://lordsoftheblog.net/2009/10/21/welcome-to-our-new-zealand-readers/

I have not had much to do with New Zealand since I lived there at seventeen.

5. The Phillies have achieved one of those really great sports achievements. They are truly defending World Series Champions in the way that term is seldom merited.

6. The movie Amelia has come out and though I have not seen it myself I am eager to see it. Amelia Earhart is one of those figures who really does a great deal to define American culture in the twentieth century. She did it not by leading a movement but by being influential although not typical or ordinary.

7.  I have found out that despite winning the first prize for market viability, the people’s choice award and building one of few or no other hurricane resistant homes in the solar decathlon the UL Team BeauSoleil finished near the bottom in the standings overall. I am clearly biased but cannot help but feel that this just one of billions of pieces of evidences that our world is careening out of control and is focused on glorifying the truly useless in such a way that it affects even good efforts like the Solar Decathlon.

College Football Meditation

Chilly changes in south Louisiana, now Death Valley’s mighty Bayou Bengals fight.

On days when cool weather will usually mark if not the day then at least the night.

Lots of folks are hunting and more watch American, National and World too,

Loving to see bats and leather do what they so beautifully in a series can do.

Even so in this land Cowboys, Demons, Indians, Cajuns and the Green Wave rise

Getting gridiron views more on weeks when Tigers play football out of view.  

Everyone in the stadia as the Greeks would say wants a coach who is wise.

 

Florida beat LSU last week. How is the PAC Ten shaking out for USC?”

Oregon looks strong, but Washington may be the one to watch out there.”

Ohio and the Big Ten feel defensive about this year and some recent games.

There is always talk of reforming the BCS . It is still good to be the SEC.

But whether your team plays for the whole thing or mostly goes down in flames,

America knows that pigskin and gridiron and tailgates in autumn’s  air

Link us to a sport we love and which we tie to our education’s temple.

Lord of college athletics is football, this old Harvard Game is never simple.

 

Michigan’s Big House or the fabulously feted and festooned freeways far

Entering near the proud Rose Bowl where USC oft avenges fallen Troy,

Do not have an equal even in the round ball’s Final Four wood floored war.

I mean no disrespect to the Diamond in October and the Yankee’s joy.

This is a land of sport and contest which cannot choose just one game.

All of us know that there will be interest in the Bowl Games of fame.

There are millions now who watch the young men in plastic helmets fight.

In the midst of pretty cheering girls, bad seats and glaring white light.

Our marriages, careers, friends from college days long past and not lost

Nudge us towards a ticket, tv party or the tailgate parties of real cost.