He's Back! What the Kosher Hedgehog did During the Holidays

Dear Frustrated Hedgehog Blog Readers:

I am sure that both of you were very concerned that I have not posted since Nov. 22, 2011. As for Lowell Brown, the Original Hedgehog (although he seems now to disdain his animal identity), he has not posted since Utah's football embarrassment against Cal on October 22. Not even the Utes's overtime victory over Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl seems to have revived him. Lowell, let's see that Ute pride--Utah upheld the honor of the PAC 12 after bowl losses by Cal, ASU, and UCLA.

PAC 12 football also explains part of my long hiatus. I attended the Fiesta Bowl on January 2. I am a native Phoenician, and my trip allowed me to re-connect with old friends and re-visit the haunts of my youth. Phoenix is a beautiful and well-governed city. (Indeed, a boyhood friend and fellow ASU law alumnus, Phil Gordon, was completing his term as Mayor of Phoenix as I arrived.)

As for the Fiesta Bowl itself, it was a great game. The few from my seat is shown above. Unfortunately, as I repeatedly complained during the Fiesta Bowl to my best boyhood friend Brian, who attended the game with me, I hate great games. I want one-sided routs in favor of my team. Great games can be lost.

That complaint unfortunately proved prophetic, as Stanford Coach David Shaw snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by taking the ball out of the hands of two-time Heisman runner-up and presumptive NFL draft first round top pick Quarterback Andrew Luck, and entrusting the game to a redshirt freshman kicker who was coming back from an injury and had been inconsistent during the last games of the season and in the Fiesta Bowl itself. Luck was simply superb in his last game as Stanford's quarterback--it is too bad that his coach decided to play consertively when the game was on the line.

However I am not bitter. Congratulations to the Oklahoma State Cowboys. May your horse go lame on the waterless plains.

I also spent nearly a week on a visit to my daughter Elise and her husband Eliott in their recently purchased co-op in Riverdale, NY, where they apparently are neighbors to President Obama's newly appointed Chief of Staff, Jack Lew. Coincidentally, my daughter Sara and son Nathan live in the neighborhood of former Obama Chief of Staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who belongs to Sara's synagogue. Mr. Lew, when he is in residence, belongs to the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, rather than to the synagogue that Elise and Eliott have been attending, the Riverdale Jewish Center.

I do not mean here to suggest any Kostant family influence over national policy. As readers of the blog know, I am a Romney man myself. And congratulations to Mitt on his big primary victory in New Hampshire.