I had some completely random thoughts while attending tonight's BU/Nebraska-Omaha tilt (Terriers win 6-4, but tried their hardest not to; they blew a 4-1 lead to make it a 4-4 game early in the third).

First, if you eat yellow and blue M&Ms together, do they give the same benefit as eating green M&Ms?

And second, whatever happened to the concession stand pretzel with all the salt on it? They've been conspicuously absent from Walter Brown Arena for a while. For the last 2-3 years the regular pretzels were kind of damp and had a suggestion of salt (wonder if the steamer used salted water). This year the pretzels are in a case with heat lamps, no salt at all. Instead, there's plain and two filled varieties- apple cinnamon and jalapeno cheddar.

I place the blame for this at Pizza Hut's feet. They started it all with the wretched stuffed crust pizza.

Somewhere, there's a cranky email waiting to be written on the topic of concession pretzels. Except that I think I know who would get it at BU, and that person is kind of a jerk. He'd probably drop the regular ones and only offer filled varieties. Ack.

Anyway, back to the game for a sec, I think I saw something for the first time ever (for me, at least): the shorthanded penalty shot goal. One of the UNO guys threw his stick on a breakaway, which to me seems like as stupid a penalty as, say, a defensive lineman kneeing the QB in the groin to disrupt a pass.

It was odd enough that we were on a breakaway, not so much because we were shorthanded, but because we couldn't do anything with the puck during uneven situations. Other than let UNO score; at least 3 of their 4 goals were on the power play.

I don't know the last time I saw a penalty shot in Walter Brown, but I'm thinking it was during my undergrad days. Back when the puck was made of vulcanized chicle and the goalies didn't wear masks, much less helmets.

If I were a prospective Democratic US Senate candidate in 2004, I'd take the bus. First Mel Carnahan, now Paul Wellstone. It's a little creepy, really.

Also on the death front, Richard Harris passed away yesterday. It says something about him that his death made people remember him from so many different things. One woman on the oldies station requested "Macarthur Park" in his memory. Young'uns will remember him for playing Professor Dumbledore. Others still for Camelot.

I'll remember him for his great appearances on David Letterman. Great stories about drinking with Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole and the British theater days. He once appeared on the show wearing a coat he said he'd made out of bedsheets from a particularly desired romantic coupling. You knew you were in for some quality entertainment when Richard Harris was on the guest list.

I forgot to tune in to Letterman to see what they said, but I think they still tape two shows on Thursday, so I can tune in Monday to catch it.