Crimenotes is a mensch

As my pint-pounding co-blogger has pointed out, I've been rather absent from this blog lately. Leaving him to take up the burden of filing dispatches from Scotland as he endeavors to drink Edinburgher publicans dry. If he's drinking as well as he's blogging, I'm sure the Scots will be tapping those strategic McEwan's reserves soon.

Travel, both unexpected and expected, has been the reason for my absence. I recently had to make an unplanned trip, return to New York, and now I'm about to leave for a long-planned vacation to a resort island in the South Carolina lowcountry. I'm hoping it will be free of cyclonic tropical weather patterns. Before I go, a couple thoughts.

• Yes, I'm traveling on one of the best college foots Saturdays of the year. But Michigan plays a rare night game and I should be able to see it. I'm told there's even a bar where alumni gather on said undisclosed island. (Of course there is.) My viewing plans for the following Saturday involve a sports bar in or around the Savannah, Ga., airport. If anyone has any recommendations, I'm open.
  
• I was going to write a whole post on this, but outside events intervened, so I'll just pose an question. To what extent is eporting from the White House press corps so bad because reporters themselves are largely in the same bubble that George W. Bush is? It's easy to say that they're a pack of simpering diddy-bops who like power and access, but I don't think it's that easy. (This thought was prompted when I read this Discuss, citing concrete examples.
• I think predictions are silly and pointless ... and yet fun in all sorts of ways. Which is why I'm excited to see if my prediction, made before the season, that Oregon will beat USC proves accurate. Another college football prediction. Texas Tech will score 100 points this weekend. And with any luck feel totally empty inside after showing Indiana State who, in fact, is boss.
  
• Before flying home, I played my annual round (actually just nine) of golf yesterday, and I'll be honest with you. it was a bloodbath. Then again, I made my first par since 2000, so it was not without its upside. (Please keep in mind that, excluding pitch n' putt, I probably haven't played 36 holes since that time.) I might be worse than when I first started. That said, golf always seems to accentuate my inner randomness, and I usually enjoy myself.