Half-Hearted Wheelbarrows

"Tony was such a passionate person. He loved life. He was one of those kids that you felt like you were incredibly privileged to coach. I have great memories of Tony and I always remember him for his passion for life, his passion on the court, his leadership and how much fun he had."

- Former Wazzu men's hoop coach [and current Indiana men's hoop head coach] Kelvin Sampson, remembering former Cougar men's hoopster, Tony Harris, who was found dead under suspicious circumstances in Brazil earlier this month.

"Are you kidding me!? I'm the head coach!"

- LSU head coach Les Miles getting all persnickety after the officiating crew gave him a sideline warning in the Tigers' loss to Arkansas.

"Por que no te callas!"

- Some words of wisdom from Spain's King Juan Carlos to Venezuela's psycho president Hugo Chavez at a conference in Chile two weeks ago [Translation: "Why don't you shut up?"]

The decibel level from Cougar fans and well-wishers would have reached five figures if it was scientifically possible to reach that high, after Wazzu's latest win over the Huskies in the Apple Cup [the Lounge says "latest" because the Cougars have won three of the last four and a good case could be made that they should be enjoying at least a seven-game winning streak right about now, but let's not get into that at the moment, Father Lotto is calm and we want to keep him that way]. The Cougars' win over the Huskies this time around was good for WSU on many fronts. Front #1 is solely for the use of redshirt senior quarterback Alex Brink – nobody else gets to enjoy this victory other than him, then after he's done enjoying it, he can invite who he wants to enjoy it with him. He has earned that elite privilege because he is in a class by himself – having become the only Wazzu QB to ever win three games against the rival Huskies. Brink came off a horrific Senior Night game to have one of the best games in his career and fling the Huskies down to the pavement again despite the presence of their Golden Childesque quarterback Jake Locker.

Front #2 is for head coach Bill Doba, who has endured the death of his wife and the strife that has come with four consecutive losing seasons since cresting the high of the 2003 Holiday Bowl. Front #3 is for the Cougar team, who not only avoided the ignominy of last place in the Pac-10, but also got the Thanksgiving leftover gravy bonus of putting the Huskies there [even if it is a tie with Stanford].

For Cougar fans and well-wishers, the Apple Cup football win also takes out the sting out of the soccer program being dissed by the NCAA [though they did place five members on the all-Pac-10 team] and the volleyball program being dissed by the Pac-10 [with the exception of Oregon State, who had the holiday spirit] to the tune of 1-17 and the second-longest losing streak in school history at 20 matches. But had the Cougar football team faltered in Seattle, the Lounge clientele was prepared for the worst, because they had Mexican bullfighting dwarfs to potentially ease their pain.

And if that didn't work, then they had an utterly indisputable Plan B – Swedish breasts. We think most people will agree, if you can't battle indifference, depression or pessimism with Mexican bullfighting dwarfs, then you can surely do the trick with exposed Scandinavian mammary glands. At least, that's what it says in the manual.

"Guess that chocolate milk thing didn't work, after all," says Ms. Dee Ceased, about the new Husky football training regimen and who advocates drinking rum instead.

Well, it didn't work for the Huskies, that's for sure, Ms. D. It might work for other teams. All the Lounge knows is that the Huskies reminded us of a Brady Bunch episode and so we know it must have been painful for Husky fans and well-wishers to watch their Golden Child QB toss passes into receivers' hands [when he wasn't tossing it over their heads] and watching them attempt to catch them with the same agility that Marcia Brady catches footballs. "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" we detected Jan, um, we mean, head coach Tyrone Willingham crying out in disgust of his Marcia Brady-handed receiving group. Oh yeah, and another thing that doesn't work for Husky football? – Alex Brink at quarterback.

"It looks like they picked up where they left off," says Jeb the Mingler of the Cougars' men's hoop team after they won their first five games of the 2007-08 season.

So far so good for head coach Tony Bennett and his Cougar squad. They have met two stiff challenges in Boise State and Montana and have come through in both cases to snatch the victory when both the Broncos and Grizzlies were hell-bent on getting the upset. In the other games – wins over Eastern Washington, Idaho and Mississippi Valley State, they have done what needed to be done – won by large amounts – and did not make the games any closer than necessary. But the toughest part of their non-conference schedule is coming up – provided they stave off a tough Air Force team today - with Baylor and Gonzaga on the road. Both games are expected to be tougher than the Boise State game and with Wazzu residing in the Top 10, the Cougars will undoubtedly have gigantic, industrial-sized bullseyes painted on their backs when they go into Waco and Spokane. If they can emerge from those contests unscathed, they will certainly be worthy of Top 5 status.

Since the Cougars won Apple Cup 100, and they were called the Farmers or Aggies or Hayseeds or whatever agricultural colloquialisms were favored back in the day, it seems only fitting that this week's Lounge link should be FilmCow. Watch out for the disembodied head of film noir legend Robert Mitchum, nobody should trust either him or the people of Andorra, so may we suggest Charlie the Unicorn for your viewing pleasure today? He's going to Candy Mountain – shuuuunnnnnn!

Finally, most people boarded the L-tryptophan express last week when they loaded down on turkey, ham, Grandma Mabel's stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy – now they must pay the price. But the Lounge Scientists have good news for those who find themselves to be relatively active, if they don't let themselves go off the deep end and exercise regularly, then there is a good chance they won't be bogged down by too much turkey – and, better yet – their kids might be active just like their parents, according to the results of a recent study of more than 5400 children.

"This is the largest study of its type that has used an objective measure of activity to assess the impacts of parents' habits on their children's inclination to exercise," says Lounge Scientist #19, Calum Mattocks, a researcher at the University of Bristol in the UK, who, unfortunately, was unable to speak after England was eliminated from the European Championship in professional soccer

So it's official, less chocolate milk and more exercise translate into an Apple Cup victory.

+++++++sponsored by Clark's Restaurant+++++++++

Attention COUGAR Fans! Autumn has arrived and you have the hunger. How can you afford to go one day further without some tasty morsels from Clark's Restaurant in Grays Harbor – home of the Best Hamburger in Twin Harbors for eight consecutive years? Come in for the burger, fresh homemade fries and milkshakes concocted from homemade ice cream. Go ahead, we dare you to try and pass up more than 12 varieties of hamburgers to choose from, full dinners, lunch and full breakfast served daily. Clark's Restaurant 360.538.1487. Seven miles south of Aberdeen, Washington on Highway 101. Proud supporter of CougZone. Mention this ad for a free small ice cream.