Bear Cats

There is a college team that are named the Bear Cats.  Wondered if this was a made-up name or if it was for real. It turns out that bear cats exist.

The binturong (Arctictis binturong) (/bɪnˈtjʊərɒŋ, ˈbɪntjʊrɒŋ/; bin-TURE-ong, BIN-ture-ong), also known as the bearcat, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is uncommon in much of its range, and has been assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because of a declining population. It is estimated to have declined at least 30% since the mid-1980s. The binturong is the only species in the genus

ETs, what if they are here? 

Approximately 56% of Americans believe in UFOs, but only about 45% believe that aliens have visited Earth. This indicates a significant portion of the population holds a belief in extraterrestrial life, although the exact percentage of people who specifically believe in aliens visiting is not clearly stated in the available data. What you may not know is that almost 1% claim that they have been abducted, many by very credible persons with substantial evidence.

I’m not an advocate of “beliefs,” but I must admit the evidence of past and current ET visits is substantial. So, if they are here, why? What do they want, and are they here to do us harm? On the first two questions, I have no answer. On the last they evidence is that they do not. Obviously, if they are here, their technology is hundreds or perhaps thousands of years ahead of ours. It makes sense that they would have the ability to either dominate or eliminate us easily. Since that has not occurred, the answer is obvious.

The Evolution of College Football

When I was in college 60 years ago, I was a fanatical fan. I was lucky enough to attend a school that had good sports teams. In fact, they won their only National football championship while I was there. And while they have not repeated that feat, they have had National championships in both basketball and track and field (both men’s & women’s).

How has the sport changed since those days? In the 60’s, you wore a coat and tie to the game and only celebrated when your team scored. Players only had a restrained celebration after a touchdown. Now, many fans wear costumes and celebrate after every decent play, both offensive and defensive. The players do likewise and signal first downs for the refs. In my day, if a player made a good play, he hurried back to his position, getting ready for the next play. Good plays were the job, not a reason to celebrate. My high school coach once benched a player for getting too excited. He said, don’t act like you are something special. Yes, you made a nice play, but act as if you do it all the time.  

In those times, teams played 10 league games and hoped for an invitation to one of the 9  bowl games if they had an outstanding record. Top 4 bowls: The Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, the Orange Bowl in Miami, the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, and the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The other 5: The Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, the Sun Bowl in El Paso, the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando & the Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston. Notice that 1/3 of the bowls were in Texas, and it was the time when the Southwest was a power conference, even though it was in reality the “Texas” conference plus Arkansas.