If it's Good Enough for Teddy...

Atop the admittedly nebulous and constantly shifting list of men I most admire, Teddy Roosevelt enjoys a permanent place. In my mind, at least, his life plays out in a sepia wash of shaking fists and bold gestures, this asthmatic-turned-pugilist (and ultimately president) -- his teeth biting down on his words, ideas big as American expansion -- charging Spanish artillery lines up Cuban hills.

In fact, I'm the type of guy who drives into downtown San Antonio to visit the Menger Hotel's famous bar just to savor the novelty of sipping scotch (or dark ale, at least, damn it!) in the same room where Teddy once rallied up Rough Riders.

So, needless to say, this little tidbit of Texas Tech history caught my eye the other day: I'm abashed to admit that I didn't know this, but our first permanent band director, hired in 1926,
was a veteran of the Spanish-American War who served as Roosevelt's bandmaster in the San Juan Hill campaign.

Of course, Harry Lemaire did a few good things for our Goin' Band from Raiderland as well, including making it the first college band to travel to an away game (thus the Goin' part) and to have its half-time broadcast on radio.

Better yet? Humorist Will Rogers (whose statue now stands on campus, his horse's tail turned toward A&M) helped finance the trip because he wanted Fort Worth to see a "real West Texas Band and hear some real West Texas Music."

Amen, brother.

Alexander Supertramp

So, as is probably the case with anyone who feels a bit "in the know" about something, I'm a bit thrilled and a bit bummed to see the movie adaption of the best-selling "Into the Wild" open today.

When I was working up in AK, my home was actually not far from the place where Christopher McCandless slowly, sadly died of starvation (and maybe a long poisoning) in a stranded bus used as a shelter for Moose Hunters. I knew a couple of guys who tried to see the bus. They couldn't get to it. The bus wasn't as easy to reach as you'd think. It had been towed back into the spectacular wilderness during some failed road project or something (can't remember the details exactly) and left to rot. The river -- the very river that killed McCandless by cutting off his exit route, in fact -- was up and they couldn't get to it. Still, their story of trying to find it had a "Stand by Me" quality to it that still gives me chills.

Anyway, later I read the book and passed it on to others. It is the fascinating story of a boy who rejects society and, under the name Alexander Supertramp, tramps across much of North America. And while I'm glad to see that it's going to get more exposure, at the same time I'm sad, as always, to see something that somehow felt private -- like "Friday Night Lights" did before the movie -- get boosted into the pop culture stratosphere (yeah, I know, both books were best-sellers, but movies just seem so much more... public). At least it appears to have been done well.

Thirty wet fuses

The anticipation, the dread, has been mounting for three decades. Now the day is finally here and I feel a bit like I've been handed a wet fuse -- thirty of them, to be precise. Yes, it's arrived: the death of my youth; the dawning of the slide toward what the retirement industry so gushingly refers to as my "golden years." (I'd rather just hear David Bowie sing it, thank you). Yeah, that's right, my birthday cake had one of those black tombstone candles on it that says 30. And really, it's not so bad. I woke up, took a shower, ate breakfast. So far I'm doing okay.

That's not to say the shock won't wear off sometime soon, say, when I notice that yet another gray hair has crept into the thankfully still-thick fold. I suppose I should start looking into acting like an adult sometime soon, though every instinct in my body cries out against it. I got carded buying beer the other day and for that I was absurdly grateful.

Besides, if this day does wind up turning sour, well, I have one consolation: I don't remember the day of my birth thirty years ago, so by that rationale I shouldn't remember this birthday when I turn 60 (of course, by then I may not remember much at all).

Genteel? Just ask the Aggies.

Football? Obviously. Basketball? Why not? But who would have expected Texas Tech, located smack-dab in the spotlit center of a gridiron bastion and proud home of the irascible Bobby Knight, to become known for chess and golfing pursuits?

Not that either of these are particularly new news items, but it struck me the other day that they share an interesting theme: things-you-wouldn't-expect-to-encounter-in-West-Texas.

First off, Susan Polgar, international chess phenom and new head of the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence, was elected the new chairman of the U.S. Chess Federation. She's the first person to fill the role. This means the face of U.S. chess is now living here in Lubbock.

And the Rawls golf course has gotten some nice reviews in golf magazines since it opened; now a prominent magazine for golf course superintendents has ranked it the third college course in the country. And Yale and Williams College aren't bad tee partners.

I love it. Of course, I don't think any of this will hurt the football attendance any.

How bizarre?

Yeah, so, you know, I'm glad that our mascot's getting some credit and all, but really, in any conversation involving a walking fur tree, a smiling orange juice glass (or whatever the hell it is out at Syracuse) and a dog that makes its owners sleep on the floor (which is where all Aggies should sleep anyway, in my opinion), how could a masked bandit possibly be deemed bizarre? So while I am glad Pete Fiutak listed the Masked Rider as one of the nation's top 25 college mascots, I must say that I'm a bit baffled by his description of the mascot. I mean, really, Ohio State has a waving chestnut, why is the Masked Rider bizarre? We're Red Raiders. Raiders. Raiders wear masks. Zorro wore a mask. The Lone Ranger. The Green freakin' Lantern. I've never seen a chestnut with arms, and when I get a dog, he's getting his own bed... on the floor.

Oh, and for those of you who have iTunes, be sure to check out the iTunesU homepage (you can access it by clicking on the green link on that page). Texas Tech is featured on the universities list now and a Health Sciences Center podcast series is promoted on the page.