Since the Univ. of Texas is my Alma Mater, I bleed burnt orange.  I've replayed the recordings of the 2005 and 2006 Rose Bowl games dozens of times.  Each time the games end with Texas winning a narrow last second victory over Michigan or USC as I sigh in relief.  The UT men and women's athletic teams are almost always ranked at or near the top.  So we're typically in contention for a national championship in some sport. 

"Hook 'em,"  says my friend King Konghorn.  Well, the 'Horns came up short against Alabama this year after losing star QB Colt McCoy just a few minutes into the national championship game.  Even with a freshman backup QB, Texas almost came back to win.  That would've been a great story.  Sigh!!!   I can't catch a break.  The San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys annually raise my hope only to dash it by lackluster performances in the playoffs.  Just not my year as a fan, I suppose.  I try to convince myself it is only a game and not that important.  But who the heck do I think I'm fooling with that blasphemous talk.  Vince Lombardi said that football isn't a matter of life and death...it's more important than that. 

Since I attended the Univ. of Wisconsin for grad school, I'm a fan of Bucky Badger as well.  However, I'm not as intense a Badger fan as I am a Longhorn devotee.  As I said, "Ya dance with the one what brung ya."  But the Badgers did get me hooked on hockey long before their return to power in Big-10 football and now basketball.  Like Austin, Madison is another great university city.  I absolutely loved living in both places.

I really like auto racing a lot--especially Formula One and Indy cars.  I'll watch NASCAR races if I happen to catch one on, but mostly because I want to be able to take part in the conversations while chomping down on some chicken wings at Hooters.  NASCAR seems to have lost its appeal once they tried to expand the market out of its natural home in the South.  It ain't as much fun unless it's between the Good Ol' Boys who appreciate NASCAR's orgin and traditions. 

As for participative sports, I am eternally grateful to Dick and Kathi Dwelle for getting Janet and me involved in snow skiing back at the Univ. of Wisconsin.  As a result, the long cold winters in the Midwest turned from an experience in misery to a joy.  From that humble beginning of about 600' vertical drop in Upper Michigan, we've been blessed to enjoy the Rockies, Wasatch, and Sierra mountain ranges out here in the West.  It is truly a religious experience to be on the mountain on a beautiful day.  I still love to ski, but Janet quit years ago because she hates being cold.

Pickup basketball was how I spent any leisure afternoon with other grad students.  Then it seemed we started having to take someone to the health center with injuries about half the time.  That was a clue that we were getting a bit long in the tooth for the game.

I used to play more tennis.  However,  I kept attracting crowds of people who would come over and look at my Jack Kramer racket.  A dad would say to his children, "I told you they use to make tennis rackets out of wood.  And none of you would believe me."  I had to trade a car in to afford it, but I finally switched to a carbon fiber racket just about the time all my friends gave up tennis for golf.

Golf is something I have purposely avoided much the same as I avoided contract bridge when in college.  I've watched it consume people alive.  But, alas I may eventually yield to golf so as not to be a social pariah.  I like the 19th Hole tradition.  I recently took golf lessons and went so far as purchasing my own clubs.  Who knows, I might have a go at playing with others.

Fishing is another thing I like to do when given the opportunity.  Being here in San Diego, you can frequently catch a ride on a friend's boat or take off on a charter with a limited size group to do some ocean fishing.  While we take what we can get, we are always in search for yellowtail, blue fin tuna, and albacore. Some of the happiest moments in my life were spent swapping yarns and drinking soda with my good friend, Charlie Jack, on a lake in Wisconsin as we sat in a small boat day after day catching absolutely nothing other than rays from the sun.

Running is something my nose does.  We have friends that still jog despite knee surgeries and hip replacements.  The father of a good friend is John Bingham, affectionately known as The Penguin, who writes a monthly column in Runner's World magazine.  John is a living testament of how an out-of-shape. middle-aged smoker can become a revered runner.  He travels the globe with a huge following.  Yet with his fine example, I still confine my running for dashing to and from my car in a rain.  And in Southern California, those are rare events.

I actually like the challenge of learning some amount of language to get by in other countries.  It's frustrating when you can't and very gratifying when you can.  However, I have found that the language problem can be just as severe when traveling to places like the heart of Boston.

Books - We can't seem to have enough. Sometimes we even read them.  Bookstores and libraries are some of our favorite haunts.  When we go out of town, we try to stop by the "Friends of ... Library" in the area we are visiting.  Amazon.com worries if I don't buy something from them every so often.  Too many books and an aging memory has made it necessary for me to create an inventory listing of what books we have.  Finding that we had acquired two copies of the same book on more than one occasion was a bit disconcerting.

Cooking and Wine - Like most of us, I like to eat.  Consequently, I like the idea of being able to prepare good food.  I don't understand why there are so many people who enjoy eating but refuse to learn to cook at all.  And the number of these people is increasing over time.  That's why someone like Rachel Ray can become a food maven overnight.