THE GENE POOL VS. FINNEY. DING.

As you may or may not know, I have an ongoing one-sided rivalry with longtime T-P sports columnist Peter Finney. The rivalry is a result of a joke that I have a shot at breaking his tenure record.

Finney started at The States (T-P precursor of sorts) on June 22, 1945, fresh out of Jesuit (yuck). (He'll make 64 years in a few months.) I started here at the T-P on August 20, 2001, while a senior at Rummel (hoorah). The rivalry is a natural one. You know, if he had any clue as to who I am. If Finney were to retire this year (and that's not likely), I would have to stay with the company (in whatever form that may be) until 2065 to catch him. Uh. Uh. Uh.

Let's take a look at some facts that put me over in this feud.

1) Finney does not have a wikipedia page. I do. Of course, I wrote it myself, and it's short and sweet. But still. If you search for Peter Finney on wikipedia, you get: Did you mean Peter Finch? Ha. Ha. Ha.

2) No. of blog entries.
Me: 216 (counting this one).
Finney: "Uh, what was that word you just used?" (For crying out loud, he doesn't even use e-mail.)

I'm sure if we did know each other, we would get along. We both went to Loyola. We both worked here all our adult lives. We both love New Orleans. We both love sports. We both love to gamble. Etc.

All this put together made my recent discovery of an American novel all the more amazing. I was looking up sentence structures to make sure I didn't look like a fool in a grammar posting when I found this sentence on wikipedia: Gene thought that Finny wanted venerability, but Finny, who did not care, thought that he was just being a friend.

I did a double-take. Was wikipedia spying on me? No, I soon realized. Gene and Finny (OK. It's missing the "e." Wanna fight about it?) are the main characters in John Knowles' novel, A Separate Peace. How is it that nobody has ever pointed this out to me?

The novel is about Gene's journey back to his old high school to face his fears of long ago. He reflects back on his days as a student while there. Finny (actual name Phineas) was his best friend, despite their polarizing personalities.

Then, as I was reading the description on wikipedia, some similarities to my situation were down right scary. For instance, it says that Gene was the best student at the high school. Close enough. Gene created something called "Sarcastic Summer" of 1942. Hey, I'm sarcastic.

According to the summary, Gene is competing with Finny. Uh, yeah we are. I'm going to catch that old fart one day. It also says that Gene has a love-hate relationship with Finny, whom he both adores and envies. Hmm. I admire Finney for his longevity and spirit. I envy him because he's got 56 years of work on me.

As CP3 would say: Man, that's crazy. The summary, however, doesn't really say how the novel concludes. The question is: Am I intrigued enough to find a copy of the book and read it?

Stay tuned.

THE TINA CURSING CORNER

My mom is excited to show me how good of shape Obama is in on the front page of the Living section. I look at it.
Me: Well, you know, he is the greatest man who ever lived.
Mom: Now, you sound just like your dad. Two fucking peas in a pod.

Mom watched the next four episodes of Lost. She was confused by the storyline with Sawyer. "I thought he was the little boy. Then, I realized the girl on the couch was the girl he was fucking earlier."

Mom found humor in the plight of Sun. "She's fucked. She didn't have to get on the plane. Now, she's lost on a fucking island with his ass."

Mom is unaware of the recent octuplets. Probably because they haven't been on Oprah yet. I inform her of their existence. "I don't know what's wrong with people. She was probably on some sort of fucking fertility drug." (Bingo. Bango. But why is this lady, already with six kids, on fertility drugs?)

MOVIE REVIEW: THE WRESTLER

Of course, I had to go see this movie. It was getting great reviews, and it was about wrestling. I can't give this film a ringing endorsement, though. Which sort of hurts because I was expecting to love it.

My likes were threefold
1) Mickey Rourke was outstanding. He nailed the part (and a chick in the bathroom).
2) The wrestling scenes were realistic. I was impressed. You can tell they really put some time into it.
3) Marisa Tomei was naked. Like a lot. Va-voom. She even shook her ass a little. Now I know why George dumped Susan to be with her. (Can you believe Tomei now has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress three times?)

Other than that, it was OK. I don't think I'll own it on DVD. It's a solid character study, but in the end, it just didn't do it for me. Well, except the parts where Marissa was naked.

PARTING SHOTS
Brick and Sandy are discussing Netflix. Sandy and her husband like the system because their kids can watch DVDs like Thomas the Tank Engine. Sandy is on the three-disc plan.

Brick: So, ya'll get three discs of Thomas the Train every time?
Sandy: No. We get Thomas the Train. And then we get an adult movie.

Brick is leaving work.

Me: It was a weak night for quotes.
Brick: Did I make it?
Me: No.
Brick: Shit. I told Doug I want a bonus every time I appear on The Gene Pool.

THE DAILY TOP LIST
My top five Super Bowl watching memories.

5) XXVI-XXX.
From 1992 to 1996, my parents and I went to a big Super Bowl party in Harahan. Must have been 50 people. Most of these were blowouts, and I remember playing with the other kiddies (causing havoc) in the second half.

4) Ravens 34, Giants 7. XXXV.
Party at my house. I ate a lot of snacks that night.

3) Patriots 20, Rams 17. XXXVI.
Party at Minkus' house. Half the guests were on the field for halftime before arriving in the second half.

2) Giants 17, Patriots 14. XLII.
Watching Lopes celebrate winning a square in a sizable pool. Pure joy, that was. First, he exalted over the Great Helmet Escape Catch. Then, he jumped up and down (at work) for Plaxigun's touchdown catch. Finally, the Giants stopping the Pats at the end had Lopes screaming victory.

1) Bucs 48, Raiders 21. XXXVII.
Party at some body's house involved with The Maroon. I remember this event for three reasons.
1) It was the last Super Bowl I didn't watch at the T-P.
2) We all bet, on my suggestion, on the final score. I didn't come closest.
3) It's the Super Bowl where I invented my different-bag-of-chips-per-quarter rule.