Most of My Friends Back Then Have Moved Along

As detailed on Deadspin and the journalistic juggernaut that is the Abilene Reporter-News, the Abilene Ruff Riders opened their franchise win account with a 39-24 victory on Monday over the Odessa Roughnecks in the air-conditioned confines of the Taylor County Expo Center.

A brief digression, though, my friends: Can we have a little more name variety out of our West Texas quasi-Arena League football teams? Failing that, can we at least agree on a uniform spelling of "Rough/Ruff"? I foresee a generation of young West Texans writing book reports on Teddy Roosevelt and describing the heroic charge of the “Ruff” Riders up San Juan Hill. The public deserves no less than an authoritative ruling on this, my friends.
The big story, though, was the performance of the Abilene quarterback, one Quincy Carter. Yes, that Quincy Carter. The former University of Georgia and Dallas Cowboys signal caller is now playing minor league arena football in Abilene. For those of who support America’s Team, that's about as depressing as the time one of my friends went to see Vanilla Ice for $5 bucks at the Harvey Hall Convention Center in Tyler at some point in the late 90's.