Today was Labor Day, but as usual that didn't stop Sarah Lawrence from scheduling the first day of Orientation for today. But for the second year in a row it was rainy and cool, so it's not like I was being denied a choice vacation day.

Anyway, I have now been living in my Mount Vernon apartment, far from all my family and (until recently) all my high school and college friends, for exactly one year. In some ways I have not changed very much -- I still would rather read a book the go to a bar most evenings, I still watch way too much TV, I'm still really shy about meeting new people -- and in others I have changed a lot. I am not only a much better writer, I am more confident and dedicated to my writing. I'm a lot braver about trying new things than I used to be. I'm more willing to speak up when I feel strongly about something. And, most importantly, I dress/act/think with less regard to what other people might think about it. Not that I'm always entirely consistent in these areas, but I'm much better about it.

OK, enough navel-gazing. I have decided Monday will be Sports Day from now on. I'll do a quick summary of any scores or events from the past week from my favorite teams, and comment as the muse strikes me. I doubt this will prevent me from commenting on sports on other days, but with football season starting and baseball season winding up, it seemed convenient to have one day to get the bulk out of the way. Plus, then those of you who don't care about sports can just skip the blog on Mondays and vice versa, if you want. So here goes:

College Football
University of Oklahoma 37, North Texas 3
Nebraska 17, Oklahoma State 7

Major League Baseball
St. Louis Cardinals in first place (72-64), one game ahead of Houston in the Central; 1.5 games back of Wild Card leader Florida.

The Cards are currently getting pounded by the Cubs at Wrigley, though, so we may be tied for first again by tomorrow. Still not a bad weekend. Would have been better if OSU had not lost their offense after the first drive of the game (both of Nebraska's touchdowns came after turnovers by the offense, so I think it's safe to absolve the defense of the blame for this one). Still, one of the encouraging aspects of the game was that even after a big mistake, OSU didn't roll over and let Nebraska take over the game, and they were playing in Lincoln. I only got to see a bit of the OU game as I had Saturday night plans (I was surprised it was on at all, but I guess when you are ranked number one TV doesn't care who your opponent is) but I thought we looked pretty good. Apparently our running game is not quite there yet, but it took a few games to gel last year also. I'm just thankful Jason White (our QB, who has twice suffered season ending knee injuries) survived the game in one piece.

Tune in next week when I might include the NY Jets opener. It's on Thursday, though so I might forget about it by next Monday. I'm only a Jets fan by default, anyway. I will NOT root for Jeremy Shockey until he stops acting like such a prototypical redneck.