There’s Nothing More Dangerous Than Some A-Hole Who Thinks He’s On a Holy Mission

Dean, Sam, Castiel & Uriel; courtesy of supernaturalseries.com & CW.com

I just had to title my blog after the best Deanism of the night.  Plus it’s a sentiment I happen to agree with, those who think they are the most righteous are often the most dangerous, be they terrorists or evangelists or even angels.  This weeks Supernatural saw a return to the awesome mytharc that has been running through the series this season.  The angels were back and so were Sammy’s powers.

This week, our boys were facing a witch on Halloween, what could be more apt than that?  Only this witch was quite powerful and was trying to raise Samhain, a powerful demon upon which Halloween is based.  We open upon a wife bringing home Halloween candy for the kids and ordering her husband not to touch the treats.  She takes the baby up for a bath and he stays behind to help himself to some candy.  He eats one piece and suddenly begins to choke.  We get to see a rather nasty visual of the inside of his mouth with a razor stuck in there.  He reaches in and pulls it out and collapses in a puddle of blood. Turns out there were 4 razors stuck in him, from one piece of candy. Our beloved FBI agents (and I love them in those FBI suits, thank you) show up and find a witches bag stuck behind the refrigerator.

Next, we have a couple of young high school type girls bobbing for apples at a party.  The first girl gets her apple with no problem and the right amount of sexual imagery for the admiring teenage boy.  The second girl, wanting to impress said boy, tries her hand at bobbing for apples, but she’s not quite as lucky as girl #1.  She sticks her head in the water and then can’t get it out, thrashes around as the water begins to boil around her and ultimately she dies.  Cooked along with the apples.  Appetizing!  Makes me want to go attack the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups I bought for tonight (just in case, I usually get no kids, which means more for me, hehe).

Sam, research king that he is, figures out that these are not ordinary revenge witch killings, they are blood rituals to bring about the rise of Samhain.  You have to kill people for 3 nights, the last one being Halloween, in order to raise the demon.  He, in turn, raises lots of other demons, which is of course not a good thing.  One aside, when interviewing young girl #1, my Dean was a little too in to the sweet young thing.  As Sam reminded him, jailbait, and no, no thank you, I have enough of this to deal with on my soap, don’t need it on my Supernatural.  Rant over.

Sam and Dean head to the high school because they find out that girl #1 lied about not knowing victim #1, she happens to babysit for that family.  Turns out that she also created quite a scene at the school, nearly clawing the hell out of one of her teachers.  Sam and Dean learn that she has an apartment of her own and she’s an emancipated minor.  They head to her place and then back to their hotel, wherein Sam walks in and sees two strangers.  Before he can attack, Dean tells him that one of the men is Castiel, the angel that got him out of heaven.

Uriel, new angel, Wire guy!, awesome! from supernaturialseries.com & CW.com

Sam is so cute and humble to be in the presence of angels, he offers Castiel his hand, who studies it as if waiting for the black mojo to start working on him, but he ends up taking it.  He tells Sam he’s glad to have met him and he’s more glad that he’s given up on his past time of zapping demons with his power.  He then introduces us to the much more off-putting angel, Uriel, who wants to wipe the town off the map.  He claims that is what they were sent to do, wipe out the town to keep the seal from being broken.  If broken, it’s another step toward Lillith getting Satan out of hell.  Dean is having no part of them murdering a town of 1200 people to wipe out one witch and he refuses to let them do it.  Uriel points out that they’re angels and can do what they want but Dean tells them that they’ll have to kill him first, which the big man upstairs might not approve of, seeing as how he wanted Dean out of hell and all.  Uriel says he’ll just haul Dean out on his own, but Dean again says, not without killing him first.  The angels end up agreeing to let Sam and Dean try their hand at getting the witch on their own.  Castiel reminds Uriel of their real mission, which at the time we’re not really clued into.

All angels should look like Castiel, photo from supernaturalseries.com & CW.com

Sam and Dean head to the car and Sam is really disappointed in the reality of angels.  He expected them to be holy and devout, gentle and righteous.  This is when Dean points out to him that they are righteous, and nothing is more dangerous than some a-hole who thinks he’s on a holy mission.  Sam seems to see the point in this but you can tell that some of his faith has been shaken.

The boys track down the witch chick at the school, wherein they find the baby bones that were used in the magic bag the witch left behind.  They realize though that the girl wasn’t the one clued in to their presence, the teacher was, so they assume he was the witch.  They were half right.  They come upon teacher with the girl strung up via rope and a knife held to her throat.  Sam shoots the heck out of him just as he’s about to cut the girl and they release her.  She congratulates them on saving her and then points out that her brother was useless.  She uses her power to slam the boys to the ground and cause them some pain as she scoops up blood from the teacher, her brother, who she was forced to hang out with for 600 years.  She then continues the incantation and opens the seal.  Sam convinces Dean to rub the dead guys blood on their faces.  The dead guy then rises, Samhain is in him, and he kisses his sister (ew) and then kills her, cause that’s how these demon types roll.  He leaves and heads to the cemetery to raise some of his bretheren.  Another party is going on there and he unleashes the zombie types on some unwitting teenagers.

Sam uses his hand mojo, courtesy of supernaturalseries.com & CW.com

On their way to take on Samhain, Sam expresses the idea of using his magic mojo and Dean won’t hear of it.  He tells him to use the knife and that’s that.  Dean sets out to kill the zombies and Sam goes after Samhain.  He tries to use the knife but it’s knocked out of his hand and he does try fisticuffs first, then decides that’s not gonna do it and he whips out the mojo hand of death.  Dean walks in and watches as his brother struggles to use his power on the demon, for the first time we see it give him a nose bleed and cause his head to hurt.  But he wins and manages to expel the demon back to hell.  While doing this, Sam’s eyes actually turn the same black we see demon possessed people have.  Samhain falls away and we see Dean’s shocked/sad face watching.  The brothers don’t end up speaking to one another for the rest of the show, so I don’t know that either one said anything about the use of Sam’s power.

Sam, bloody from his power, courtesy of supernaturalseries.com & CW.com

We close on the boys, separated yet again, Sam with Uriel and Dean with Castiel.  Uriel reminds Sam that the anniversary of their mother’s and Jessica’s death are upon them and asks how he could use his power despite being told not to.  Sam asks what he was supposed to do, he had to save the town.  Then he says Dean was right and they are dicks (what is up with dicks this season?)  Uriel tells Sam that the moment he becomes more trouble than he’s worth he will turn him to dust.  It’s pretty awesome.  Then he tells Sam to ask Dean what he remembers from hell and Sam looks surprised and a little hurt that Dean might remember something and not have shared it with him.

Dean's expression upon seeing Sam use his powers, courtesy of supernaturalseries.com & CW.com

Dean’s alone in a park and Castiel appears; Dean thinking he’s there to tell him I told you so but he’s actually there to let him know that his real orders were to follow Dean’s orders, not to kill the entire town.  He was glad that Dean didn’t want them to smite innocent people.  It was a test to see how Dean would perform, Dean assumes he failed but Castiel tells him that’s not really the case, he doesn’t know what right and wrong is.  Dean says he’d make the same call again, because they saved these people.  Castiel, for the first time, let’s him know that he questions God’s will sometimes as well, he didn’t want the town destroyed any more than Dean did.  The seal was still broken though and they’re a step closer to all hell breaking loose.  He tells Dean he doesn’t envy the weight on his shoulders and disappears.

Since we’re only a few episodes removed from Sam swearing off the mojo usage and it’s already back, I imagine he’s going to take a few more steps down the slippery slope before it’s all said and done.  Dean seems to have a lot more power than I initially thought, if the angels are actually there to follow him.  I really enjoyed this episode, we had more even distribution of the boys and Sam was acting more in character than he was last week.  I think finding out that the angels are not these sweet souls was a real eye opener for Sam and he’ll start to question his faith more and more, which might lead to him going darkside before it’s all said and done.  Good stuff.  Next week, wishes are coming true, too many wishes!  I wish some one mine would come true, then I’d be Mrs. Ackles signing out! Hee!

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Dirty Sexy Days? A Girl Can Dream!

From Front: Simon Elder, Juliet, Tripp, Letitia, Karen, Nick George, Lisa George, Brian, Patrick & Jeremy, DSM Cast courtesty of Duckydoestv.com

While watching one of my guilty pleasures, Dirty Sexy Money, I started fervently wishing that Days would rip that off, you know, instead of Higley ripping her own stuff from OLTL off instead?  Since it’s quite clear that Dena couldn’t write a romance unless she’s possessed by one of the Bronte sisters, why not scrap the idea of romance and go the DSM route?

Dirty Sexy Money revolves around the filthy rich Darling family, headed by the formidable patriarch, Tripp (not to be mistaken for my friend, Tripp).  Tripp Darling is one of those meddling fathers, who thinks he knows what’s best for his children and will go to any length to ensure that they get what they want, or what he thinks they should want.  This week, his eldest son, Patrick, was ready to admit to the world that he is in love with a transgendered woman, Carmelita.  He was going to do this on the night of his election to the Senate.  Needless to say, Daddy didn’t think this would be a good idea and he told Carmelita the truth behind the death of Patrick’s wife, Ellen.  She slipped while attacking Patrick for cheating on her with Carmelita and instead of calling the cops, the family worried that it would come off like Patrick killed her, so they took her body to their summer house in the Hamptons and set it on fire.  Carmelita was not pleased that her beloved would do something like cover up his wife’s death, so she dumped him.  Problem solved, Patrick won.  Tripp had a heart attack while arguing with Patrick, but he appears to be alright.

Before I discuss the rest of the family, the main player is Nick George, the family lawyer.  Nick was your average do-gooder type of lawyer, wanting to help the environment and the world in general.  His father was the Darling family counselor and upon his untimely death (we’ll discuss that more shortly), Tripp approached him to take over as the private Darling family lawyer.  Nick grew up with the Darlings and wanted no part of their circus life, but the amount of money they threw at him for charitable givings made him decide to take the offer.  Over the year or so that he’s been involved with the Darlings, Nick has gone from white hat to a grayer hat, doing things he would no doubt have refused to do months ago (including standing aside during the Ellen cover up).  Tripp considers Nick as good as a son and recently named him Vice President, if anything happens to him, Nick will actually take over the family business.  Being at the Darling’s beck and call is doing a number on Nick’s life and his marriage.

Letitia Darling, wife of Tripp, mother of Patrick, Brian, Karen, Jeremy and Juliet.  Letitia is currently on trial for the murder of Nick’s father, her long time lover and father of her son, Brian as well.  She’s indulgent with her children and also loves Nick like a son, in part due to her relationship with his Dad.  Nick is defending her for the murder of his own father, who died in an airplane crash that was tampered with.  He’s certain of her innocence and the Darling’s want her to be represented to him because what jury would convict a woman of killing a guy when his own son is defending her?  Good question, that.

Patrick Darling, NY state senator, father of 2, in love with a transgendered woman.  Patrick is the eldest child, I believe, and the most moldable.  He always ends up bending to his father’s will, be it in running for the Senate or in giving in when it comes to his wife’s death.  He attempts to get out from under his father’s thumb but ends up right back under it.

Brian Darling, son of Letitia and Nick’s father, whose first name escapes me.  Brian started off as some kind of pastor, married to a formidable Mei Ling, with 2 daughters by her.  He also has a son, Brian Jr., from an affair with one of his churchgoers.  Hilariously, his girlfriend dumped Brian Jr. on him and he tried to pass him off as a Swedish orphan, Gunther, who could speak no English.  Mei Ling guilted Brian Jr. into admitting he was not a Swedish orphan and that Brian was his father.  She took the girls and left, Brian gave up the church and is now working for Darling Industries.  He found out last season that Tripp is not his father, as did Tripp, who did not know about Letitia’s long affair with the family lawyer.  Nick and Brian do not get along too well, but they’re an interesting pair to watch interact.

Karen Darling, professional divorcee.  She’s been married 4 times and just got engaged to #5 last night.  She was Nick’s childhood sweetheart and she still wants him.  He’s still attracted to her as well.  She’s supposedly a lot smarter than a ditzy rich chick but she acts the part more times than not.  Her best moment might have been right after wedding #4, when she turned to Nick a minute after saying her vows and asked him to get her a divorce!  Her new fiancee, Simon Elder, is her father’s top competitor and he wants to marry her to get his hands on the company.  Nick warned her of this but she took it as jealousy and him not wanting her to be happy and off we go.  Looks like next week Nick tells Tripp to cut her out of the business before Simon can get his hands on it.  It doesn’t get much soapier than that does it?

Jeremy Darling, twin of Juliet, youngest of the Darlings.  Family playboy.  Just kind of sleeps his way through life, partying and bedding women.  He’s got a crush on Nick’s wife, Lisa, and they’ve had a couple of kisses.  Nick knows and doesn’t appreciate it, of course.  Currently he’s sleeping with the DA, Nola Lyons, who is trying his mother for murder.  Again, is that not good soap?  They’ve kept their relationship quiet but Nick borrowed his phone and figured out who he was involved with.  Should make for some interesting times in front of the judge, right?

Juliet Darling, Jeremy’s twin.  She’s your useless Paris Hilton type, although a virgin, and mostly off the show.  She’s off with some guy right now and I think has only one or two appearances this year due to the actress’ real life troubles.  That’s okay, she was the least interesting of the Darling sibs.

Those are the main players, with Nick’s wife, Lisa and Karen’s fiancee, Simon, also along for the ride.  Just from my descriptions of the characters, does the show not sound soapy and about 1000 times more interesting than Days?  I picture bulking up the DiMera family a bit and having them be a Darling type of family.  Stefano is great as an interfering father, it’s what he already does.  I see EJ in the Patrick type role, the modable son who rebels when it comes to the woman he loves.  Lexie could not pull of Karen, but we could easily have another DiDaughter appear on the scene.  Actually Kristen would be great in that type of role.  I’d bring her and Peter back to bulk up the family.  Then have an outsider, like maybe our own Nick, get sucked into the family and deal with all their scandals and issues.  Have a real challenger, like say, Philip Kiriakis, romancing the Kristen/Karen type of character and spying on DiFamily.

You don’t have to have all these “twu wuv” stories like Days attempts to have, or all these random chem tests.  Business and family dynamics can be just as, if not more, compelling.  Desires, affairs, scandal, bribery, etc.  It’s not that hard, Dena, tune into ABC on Wednesday nights and start taking some notes.  It couldn’t hurt, right?

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Week 9 NFL Picks

I’m coming off a 10-4 week, my best yet, so I’m feeling rather smug as I check in with this weeks picks.  Invariably this means I will probably have my first below .500 showing, but that’s okay.  10-4 baby!  And if I’d gone with my gut on my Bucs/Dallas pick, I would have been 11-3.  I knew the NFL couldn’t risk having their beloved Boys lose another game this early!  God forbid!  Anyhow, not a bad week, hopefully we can pull the same this week.

Buffalo over the Jets: I’m not sure what happened in Buffalo/Miami, but I feel that Buff is a much better team than the Jets.  Now if the Jets are wise, they’ll feed the ball a lot more to Leon Washington (SEMINOLE!!!) because he makes things happen, but we know Favre will throw a few more picks and probably lose the game this time.  Is the shine coming off the apple?  I heard a few announcers actually criticize the Annointed One this week!  The world may be ending, where’s Madden?  Surely he can restore the Brett love to appropriate levels to spare us sure doom!

Chicago over Detroit: Beloved Lions, you tried so hard last week to end my dream, but you kept it alive for me didn’t you?  I don’t think you’ll duplicate that near success this week, Chicago is coming off a bye and actually playing pretty well, so I expect a couple TD victory for the Bears.  Thanks Lions, keep up the good work!

Jax over Cincy: Alright, looks like we should be 2-2 on the Ofer teams again this week!  Jax is underachieving this year, sure, but even they should be able to take the Palmerless Bengals.  I read that Housh (no way am I looking up the spelling, you all know who I’m talkin about) will walk if the team goes 0-16.  Um, wouldn’t you still want to walk if they go 1-15 or 2-14?  At least if you go Ofer, you’re epically bad!  Good god man, think a little, will ya?

Baltimore over Cleveland: I continue my attempt to thwart Baltimore’s season by picking them to win every week.  Plus, they could actually take this one, though Cleveland looked better in last week’s win than they’ve looked all year thus far.  We’ll see.  Still hating you Ravens!

Green Bay over Tennessee: Yep, I’m going for the upset.  Tenn was great the other night against Indy, but they’ve got a short week, they’re due a loss, and they’re still a bunch of guys I really haven’t heard of QBed by Kerry Collins.  They aren’t going 16-0, so I’ll go for the loss here.  I’ll probably regret it, but there you go.

Arizona over St. Louis: This is the kind of game Arizona finds a way to lose, but I’m having faith that they’ll take care of business against the Rams again.  They have Boldin back, awesome as ever, and a much better offense.  The Rams got their wins, back to losing.

Minnesota over Houston: I was tempted to take Houston here, but Minny’s at home and it feels like it’ll be a big dose of Peterson that will give them the win.  Meanwhile, do you think Minnesota will go for a QB in the offseason?  I mean, they might have done something in the North if they actually had a QB.  Novel concept, I know!

Tampa Bay over Kansas City: Because the Bucs should be damn angry after their loss in Dallas and because KC is KC.  I believe Johnson is still out and I couldn’t name anyone else on that offense other than the unhappy Gonzalez, who probably will try to hide in the Bucs equipment and get smuggled out of town.  Bucs big this week.

Denver over Miami: Here, right here is a game with two teams that I can’t figure out for the life of me.  Miami rears up and wins against good teams, so they could do this here.  Denver has a hell of an offense but apparently nobody playing defense.  So what happens here?  Does Brown get 300 yards?  Does Denver light it up?  I haven’t a clue, I’m going with Denver because they should win, but the whole AFC East is just a giant bunch of suck this year.

Atlanta over Oakland: Ahhh Matt Ryan, welcome back to playing against crappy teams.  I’m sure you’ll find it much more rewarding than the Panthers/Bucs/Eagles of the world.  I really have nothing to say about Oakland, other than they have a good kicker (of course, he’s a Nole) and a crazy owner.  I don’t expect much of anything out of the Raiders until Al Davis dies or sells the team, whichever happens first.

Giants over Dallas: You got your free win, Boys, take it and run.  The Giants D will get a hell of a lot more pressure on the immobile Brad Johnson than my moronic team did and they will get turnovers and win this game.  Odds of a TO rant on the sidelines?  5:1.

Philly over Seattle: Hey, Philly won a World Series last night, the Eagles should roll with that.  I’m not sure where Seattle found that offense last week, I’m guessing that SF gave them a lot of turnovers?  I really don’t know, but they aren’t doing it against Philly.

Indy over NE: Why?  I have no idea.  Because this is the sort of game that Manning will remember that he’s Manning?  Because Matt Cassel is on the road in a scary place?  Because NE is pretty beat up?  One of these things will equate to a Colts win.

Pittsburgh over Washington: Pitt is one of the toughest teams I’ve ever seen.  I really like watching them play.  I’m no Big Ben fan, but he does get up, hit after hit, and make some plays that are almost Favrian!  They’re tough.  Washington?  Really isn’t.  They’re 6-2 and seem to play up or down to the level of competition.  Which means they should play well this game, but their lack of ability to shut down teams like the Rams and Lions don’t give me great faith in their chances on Monday night.

Last Week:  10-4

Season Record:  67-48

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If You’re Going To Screw Us, At Least Buy Us Flowers First

Dear NFL,

I get it, really I do.  Here you are, a season in disarray.  The golden boy quarterback was out for the year 8 minutes into the season, the other best QB in the league has looked like a shell of himself this year, teams that should suck aren’t (Atlanta, Miami) and teams that should be good aren’t (San Diego, Indy, GB).  Panic city.  What can we hold on to if we can’t rely on those NFL truths we look to every year?  Up is down and down is up.  You are desperately trying to find some semblance of right in a world of wrong.

Since Brady is out and Manning isn’t all there, you needed to pick a horse to hitch the NFL star wagon on and you selected Dallas.  They’ve got a starting QB who’s a blossoming star with a superstar girlfriend, a diva WR that everybody tunes in to see, whether he’s sulking or scoring, a troubled cornerback left for dead and an owner who is one of the faces of the league.  With a super offense, why not ride Dallas all the way to ratings blockbusters and NFL glory?

But a funny thing happened on the way to the big game.  Romo got hurt, Pacman got suspended, Jerry’s face would show dismay if it could move, and TO has been doing more sulking than scoring.  Dallas started the season 3-0 but then dropped 3 of their last 4 to have a 4-3 record going into today’s match up with Tampa Bay.  With 40 year old Brad Johnson at the helm against one of the top defenses in the league, it was time for drastic measures.  You couldn’t afford to have Dallas lose another game!  Not at home!  Not even to a fellow playoff contender.  America’s team had to win and you saw to it that that was the case didn’t you?

Tampa dominated the game early on, held Dallas to a couple of 3 and outs to start the game and had them punt on their third possession as well.  Meanwhile the offense was moving through the Dallas D, marching up the field.  Fortunately for you, and for Dallas, they kept crapping out in the red zone, having to settle for 2 field goals instead of touchdowns.  Dallas finally had some momentum and got a field goal, it was looking like we’d head into the locker room with a 6-3 lead.  But then you saw a moment and you seized it.

It all started the way the whole drive started, with a horsecollar penalty on Ronde Barber.  I saw it, agree it was one, and it was unnecessary as hell on 3rd and 12 with 3 other Bucs waiting to tackle Barber if Ronde didn’t get him.  So Dallas was in field goal range and we had to figure it was gonna be 6-6 at the half.  Fine, with Bucs D that was alright.  But you weren’t satisfied with getting Dallas a FG were you?  Nope, they needed the lead at the half!  Sooo you had the refs call a pass interference penalty.  I would have been fine with this had you been calling them against Dallas as well, but you weren’t.  Nope, that was reserved for the Bucs.  First down Dallas with about 25 seconds to go.  Ok, we can still hold them to a field goal, no problem!  Oh look!  There’s that Columbo guy picking a fight with Cato June right in front of the ref.  I mean, he’s standing right there and can clearly see Colombo take a swing at Cato before Cato swings back!  Flag flies.  Alright, it’s gotta be on Columbo, he started it and the ref saw him do it.  At worst, it’s offsetting since Cato retaliated.  But no…no for some reason Cato was the only one flagged.  Half the distance to the goal.  One play, TD.  10-6 at the half, enraged Bucs defenders, enraged Bucs fans.

I know they say the last guy always gets caught, but the ref was STANDING RIGHT THERE WATCHING THE WHOLE THING.  Not to mention the fact that Columbo got in 2 other fights earlier in the game!  What the hell?  How could you not flag him?  I’ll tell you how!  You wanted Dallas to eek out a win, and eek they did.  I don’t mind if my team loses, I really don’t, it’s the NFL, you get used to your team losing.  But them having to beat both Dallas and the refs?  Not fair, not cool.  This is the second game that the Bucs have been screwed by some terrible calls, but at least in the Saints game they felt like shitty calls, not preplanned “fix” calls.  You should be ashamed of yourself.  You took what could have been a great game and turned it into a pathetic farce.  You got your one Dallas win, I’d like to see you try that shit next week against the Giants.

Sincerely,

A disappointed fan

PS  And by the way, since when can a cameraman don a jersey of the team playing?  I saw the Dallas cameraman, was he there to make sure if instant replay was needed nobody would see anything definitive in the Bucs favor?  Not very subtle, league, not very subtle!

• In other non-cheating NFL news, I’d like to congratulate both Detroit and Cincy for keeping that 0-16 dream alive.  You’re at the halfway point, men, I’m so proud of you!  Just keep perserving and bring the dream home for me!  I know you can do it!
• Welcome back to reality, Rams.  Nice comeback by Cassel in New England, it’s nice to see that he can bring the team back from the brink of a loss.  They’re not the juggernaut they would be with Tom, but they still have potential in the wide open AFC.
• Hooray, Brett Favre led another come from behind win!  Never mind the fact that he was thre reason they had to come from behind, with his 3 interception day, but he’s still the awesomest QB ever to step on the field!  Where’s Madden?  I need a Favre montage, pronto!
• Perhaps New Orleans and San Diego should play all their games in London.  They put up 37 and 32 points respectively in a NO win.  I bet the people of London were happy after that crappy Giants/Miami game in the rain last year, at least they might get why we like this sport so much (you know, when the fix isn’t in!  Hi NFL refs!)
• Welcome to the coaching ranks, Mike Singletary.  I bet you didn’t expect to get beaten down by the lowly Seahawks for your first game did you?  I know I didn’t expect it, thanks for sticking me with a loss!  Sigh.  Must everyone cross me?
• Holy crap, I just saw that Brett’s wife took to the blogosphere to defend him against the Lions tampering charges, complaining about the heavy toll that all these rumors are having upon him.  BOO FRIGGIN HOO lady.  If your husband had stayed retired, or not retired in the first place, you wouldn’t be in such a shit storm.  Cry me a river.  Sorry, but no sympathy from this end of the blog world for you guys.  Welcome to the NFL and New York.
• Do the Dolphins hate me?  I mean, we’re entering Raven territory with them here.  I pick them to win, they lose, I pick them to lose, they win.  What in the hell is with this team?  I don’t remember Chad Pennington being this confounding when he was with the Jets.  Maybe it’s the Tuna factor?  I guess Ted Ginn finally lived up to his 9th pick status (hehe) and managed to get 175 reception yards.  Go Miami I guess, I don’t get you.  And Buffalo disappointed me.  Maybe NE will take the East again after all.
• Hey Redskins, you lost to the Rams and you nearly lost to Detroit.  You wanna get your heads out of your asses?  You might be the crappiest 6-2 team I’ve ever seen.  Maybe they only get up for divisional foes?  I don’t know, but you fail to impress, yet again.
• Westbrook was finally back and lo and behold, so were the Eagles.  Brian got 2 TD’s and 167 yards.  Matt Ryan had another big game statistically but had 2 picks.  The Falcons are a decent team but they’re not yet good enough to win against good defenses on the road.  They’re a heck of a lot better than anybody expected them to be though.
• Oh Arizona, you and the east coast just don’t get a long.  You had a decent lead on the Panthers but you let them come rushing back and beat you 28-23.  Congrats to Boldin on being back and getting another TD though.  I’m glad you’re healthy, come be a Buc.  Anyway, I saw no highlights of this game but did see Delhomme acting Douchetastic on the sidelines.  I found him annoying, but then I always do.  We’ll see you soon Jake, number one for now in the south but not for long.
• Baltimore beat Oakland, which I expected, but I will continue my voodoo against them every week due to their usually toying with me.  I’m also mad that they failed to leave any diamonds or rolexes in their plane that I got to ride the next day from Baltimore.  Throw a gal a bone, will ya?  Not that kind of bone, pervs.
• Hey Cleveland, where was that offense last week when I was watching you live?  They completed a ton of long passes today in their upset of Jacksonville and the game was awesome at the end.  Jax managed to drive down to the 25 with about 10 seconds to go and Gerrard threw a pass to Jones in the end zone that he juggled 3 times.  Just as he was about to catch it a Cleveland DB reached over and knocked it away.  They had one second left and overthrew the end zone and Cleveland held on 23-17.  Good game.  Not so good?  Jax’s playoff hopes.  Yet another team I can’t figure out.
• We had a real defensive battle between the Giants and Steelers today.  I love watching tough teams like that battle it out.  Ben had a few interceptions and amazingly the Giants got a safety when James Harrison, standing in at long snapper, snapped the ball over the punters head.  Why not have the center be the back up long snapper?  He’s at least used to handling the ball that way…defensive guy? Not so much.  That led to a Giants touchdown with 3 minutes to go.  Pitt actually had 2 chances in those final 3 minutes but got stopped twice on 4th down, the last one via interception.  More importantly, I was reunited with one of my college boyfriends, Limas Sweed, who is now a Steeler.  Yay Limas!
• And because I know you were waiting for it, the Douchetard of the Week award can go only one way.  If you read the beginning of my blog, you know.  It’s the refs in the Dallas game!  For helping the Cowboys snatch victory from the better team, you, Dallas refs and cameraman, are our Douchetards of the Week.  Congratulations!

That’s it for me for the day games.  It’s been a long, exhausting day thanks to my Bucs loss.  But despite that, I’m 9-4 on the week, which isn’t bad at all.  Improvement is good.  I’ll check in with you next week, maybe the refs won’t affect a game next week?  Nah, too much to ask!

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USC vs. Penn State, It’s Inevitable

I wish I was talking about this year’s Rose Bowl match up, but I’m quite certain that this will be our BCS championship game.  It won’t matter if Texas and Bama manage to win out, the voters will find a way to get it done.  Who cares if they both just squeaked by their opponents this week?  It’s predestined!  JoePa HAS to be in a title game, he was never gifted with one before (er, I mean, uhhhh, well that was awhile ago dammit!)  USC has to be in the championship game because they’re USC!!!  OMG USC 4EVA!!!  Perhaps Texas will be punished this week for their mere 4 point victory against OK State.  Penn State & USC won by 7 baby!  IMPRESSIVE!!! Sarcasm much?  Hey, it’s in the title of my site, you knew what you were in for!

• How fun is Texas Tech/Texas going to be next week?  TT is awesome to watch, Harrell and Crabtree are a hell of an offensive combo.  This week Colt actually had a few turnovers, which I thought he was incapable of.  I’m sure it’s USC’s fault, they arranged for it to happen.
• The ACC continues to be indicative of the wacky year in college football.  How in the hell did UVA work their way up from laughable doormat to contention in their division?  Props to Miami for knocking off Wake for the Noles, we needed the assistance.  UNC continues to play some good ball and Duke took down Vandy.  Vandy, that was somehow previously ranked in the top 15.  Yeah…uh…next time you might wanna wait before declaring them the darlings of the SEC, media.  Sheesh.
• Speaking of the ACC, my Noles took down Va Tech 30-20 in Tally.  While the game wasn’t dominant, it was a very nice win.  The defense knocked out 2 quarterbacks, bringing a tear to my eye and a smile to my face.  That’s old school Nole D right there!  Ponder didn’t have a great game but he was smart with the football, which is a good sign of growth.  We lost 2 RB’s to injury, but Sims came in and helped out admirably.  Gano continues to be great at kicker, something I have not said since the beloved days of Seabass.  I miss that crazy Pollock!
• I would like to complement the refs for being able to ignore “Macho” Harris draping himself all over my WR’s several times in the game.  I mean, I guess he actually has to remove their pants and start screwing them to get a flag, but whatever.  First round draft pick!  Macho Man!  Thankfully, my boy Greg Carr stepped up late in the game and made two awesome catches in Macho’s face.  Take that, Macho!  Oh and that Easterling TD in the back of the end zone was a thing of beauty!  I didn’t think he even got any feet down, but somehow that tip toe made it!  Awesome!
• Holy Beatdown in the Bayou!  GA puts up 52 on LSU?  52???  I know LSU lost a lot of players to the draft last year but damn.  I’d like to think that this performance bodes well for GA against UF next week.  They too put up 52 on LSU so maybe GA was just making a statement, we can do it too!  Knowshon ripped off a pretty 68 yard run that I happened to see during my flipping on commercials, he saw the hole, waited a second and zoom!  I love him.
• Soooo will Tennessee consider firing Fulmer now?  While their defense wasn’t terrible, they did lose by 20 at home to Bama, who has not been an offensive juggernaut in recent weeks.  I’m fairly sure the Tenn fans want this done.  I know Fulmer won a championship 10 years ago (thanks Mario Edwards, douche) but ten years is a long time.  We’ll see if that was the nail in the coffin.
• Missouri bounced back from their beatdown by Texas by shutting out Colorado 58-0.  Where was that defense a week ago?  I know there’s a difference between Tex and Colorado but still, it takes some talent to get a shut out!  The Big 12 is a lot of fun this year, they may just be my fave conference, god knows they have the QB talent.  OK also put up 58.  I love offense!
• Speaking of offense, how about that offensive explosion in the Ohio State/Penn State game!!!  Whooo hooo, giving the Big 12 a run for it’s money, the Big 10 baby!  Alright, not so much.  This was a defensive battle to save all defensive battles.  Both defenses managed to shut down the other teams running games and the passing wasn’t really there, but thanks to a Pryor fumble in the 4th quarter, Penn State pulled off a win.  I really thought Ohio State might score a TD on their final drive but a pick in the end zone sealed the deal.  Impressive win, I suppose, but I wouldn’t call it BCS worthy.
• And now it’s time for a rant.  A couple of weeks ago I had on ESPN and some moron commentator actually had the balls to say that if Texas and Bama and Penn State won out, Penn State should leapfrog at least one of them and play for the championship.  Why?  Because JoePa is beloved.  The hell???  JoePa has won titles before, it’s not like he’s 81 and never had a championship.  Who does Penn State play besides Ohio State?  I’m waiting….um…nobody.  Right.  So they should leapfrog Bama if they run through the SEC?  Really?  Or Texas if they make it unscathed through the Big 12?  I mean, of course!  He’s JOEPA!  If I handed out Douchetard awards for college football, that commentator would win it.  Just to demonstrate his lack of knowledge, I don’t even know who the hell he was.  Irrelevant fool!  Rant over.
• Speaking of the Big 10, the Spartans knocked off the Wolverines for the first time in 18 or so years.  Good for them, Ringer continues to impress and I look forward to seeing him in the NFL in a year or so.  As to Michigan, what a lost year it is.  West Virginia fans chortle with glee.
• As to the Big East, supposed powerhouses (HA) Pitt and USF both went down.  I would give you some analysis but let’s face it, I, like most of the world, pay no attention to the Big East.  They’re pretty irrelevant in the big picture.  Welcome back to reality USF.  Roy31 at STFU actually told me Pitt was pretty good and could beat my Noles.  To that I say another HA!  They lost to a shitty Rutgers team (Schiano is still kicking himself for NOT taking that Michigan job) and should fall out of the rankings.  See ya Panthers!
• I would give you an intense breakdown of the USC game, but let’s face it, it was on after my bedtime and I wouldn’t have watched it had I been awake.  I guess Arizona was supposed to be some tough test for them and they survived it (like there is any such thing as a tough test in the Pac 10).  They won by 7 over a Stoops coached team.  I might be impressed if that Stoops team was Bob’s, but no, it was just Mike’s.  A 17-10 game for USC?  Really?  Color me unimpressed, but go ahead and vault them over OK in the rankings anyway.  You only have so many weeks left to get them to their rightful position voters!

Well that’s all I have from the week in college football.  There weren’t any major shakeups, but I’m sure we have more coming.  Next week we get that Texas Tech/Texas matchup and UF vs. GA, so it should be fun!  See ya for those games and more!

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Eye of the Tiger, Heart of the Cowardly Lion

Pretty Scared Dean, image from SupernaturalSeries.com & CW

I must admit to you, I tape Supernatural every week and watch it the next day because it conflicts with other shows and I like to give it my complete attention.  Also, there’s the very real possibility that I will want to rewind and admire the beauty that is Jensen Ackles.  I do tend to flip to it during Grey’s commercials though, and I did that last night.  I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why Dean was so damn scared of snakes and alligators and lizards, but then I watched the whole show and I got it.  This episode wasn’t up to the levels of awesome achieved by the rest of the season, but it did feature several laugh out loud moments and one timeless piece of video that I will attempt to attach at the bottom of this blog.

This week Sam and Dean were investigating a sudden rash of heart attack deaths.  While observing the autopsy of the latest victim, Dean got infected by some kind of GhostSickness, which hilariously first manifested by him getting scared by the above mentioned creepy crawlies and nervous about teenagers loitering near his car.  Sam called Bobby and they figured out the cause, they just had to find the ghost that was causing the sickness.  It turns out that Frank, the dead guy, had killed an innocent man 20 years ago that he assumed had killed his wife.  Instead she’d ran off and hung herself, but she wasn’t found before he killed Luther.  If you’re wondering why Sam wasn’t infected while Dean was, apparently it only infects “dicks” who use intimidation to get their way.  Dean is a “dick” and Sam isn’t.  This cracked me up for some reason cause it’s sometimes true, but I love Dean more anyway.  I just saw that Kripke came out and admitted that the writers screwed this up, Dean is not a dick per se, and he was infected because of something that occurred when he was in hell.  We’re supposed to find that out in episode ten.  New writers didn’t to a great job conveying that.

Besides being a fraidy cat, Dean only had 24 hours to live (yet again) and he became pretty useless to poor Sam.  They were investigating at a warehouse where Frank killed Luther and Dean ended up running out of the room when the ghost of Luther showed up.  Prior to that though, in what might have been the funniest thing I’ve seen all year, they heard noises coming from a locker and when Sam opened it, a cat popped out.  Dean screamed like a girl, this high pitched loud ass girly scream, augmented by the expression on Sam’s face when he heard his brother carrying on.  Jensen obviously had a hell of a time with this episode, as you’ll see in the scene below.

More frightened Dean, from SupernaturalSeries.com & The CW

Another symptom of the sickness was hallucinations, such as when Dean saw Sam, who told him that he was happy he was going to die again and we got to see him with the yellow eyes like the demon who infected him.  He came to with Sam watching him with concern, but of course he didn’t tell Sam what he ended up seeing.  Sigh.  Back to the secrets already boys?

Anyway, since Dean was useless to help, Sam called in Bobby, who came with the idea that they had to scare the ghost since they couldn’t burn his bones.  He’d been dragged to death and there was no way they could ensure they got all of him to burn like they usually do for ghosts.  While Sam was busy trying to get the ghost to appear, Dean was attacked by the sheriff, who was also infected and ended up having a heart attack in the hotel room.  Then Dean was paid a visit by Lillith, a hallucination but she got his heart racing and was on the edge of killing him when Sam and Bobby managed to destroy Luther.  They did it by dragging him again with the chain, which was his greatest fear, how he died.  Dean was safe and back to snarking at the end and not telling his brother that he saw Lillith.  They never learn!  Also interesting, and something I missed in the last view, is that when Sam asks Dean what he saw in his hallucinations, Dean glances him and we get a flicker of those yellow eyes again.  Was that a reminant hallucination or is Sam’s demon really that close to the surface?  Awesome ending, Dean lies about what he saw and then drinks his beer and looks pensive and lost in thought.

This was not one of the best episodes by any means, but it was a lot of fun.  It also further cemented my belief that I should be married to Jensen Ackles, or at least Dean Winchester, for just like me he laughed at the name Gamecocks.  If only he knew that the Gamecocks were quarterbacked by Smelley, I bet he’d collapse into fits of giggles just like I do.  I also laughed at the other teams name, the Cornjerkers.  I think the writers were having some fun with names.  Couple that with Dean being a “dick” and you really had the juvenile humor going.

A funny, yet poignant scene, occurred when Dean told Sam how insane they were for hunting things that wanted to kill them, things that they should by all rights avoid and be afraid of.  He pointed out that they spent too much time together in the car and that Sam should be sick of him.  He admitted to being a jerk and that he probably drove Sam nuts, and then hilariously he told Sam that Sam was very gassy, especially when he ate burritos.  It was honesty couched in hilarity and he was fed up and quit.  That didn’t last long, as when he walked away he ran into a little dog with a bow in her hair that he was afraid of and it chased him back to the hotel.

Dean nearly cries as he quits, from SupernaturalSeries.com & CW

So while this show didn’t really advance the myth arc, we did see little glimpses of things, such as Sam with the yellow eyes, Lillith, Dean having to fear death yet again and showing signs of being fed up with the whole thing that should play out down the road.  I enjoyed the humor but look forward to more of the meat in upcoming episodes.  They have me so fascinated by the angels vs. demons, brother vs. brother thing that I don’t want to have to wait for more pieces.  In the meantime, I leave you with the best clip ever.  My love for Jensen is cemented for all time.

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When Being Spoiled Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be; Days Strikes Again

You all may be aware that I’m none too pleased with Days in recent times.  It took awhile for me to get to the point of nearly complete dissatisfaction, but now it’s here and I find it hard to get back to even enjoying the show at all these days.  Oh I get a few brief shining moments to appreciate, some Nicole snark, Date sex, Chelsea getting shat upon…but for the most part, I just don’t feel at all remotely excited.  Then the November sweeps spoilers came and I reached a whole new level of disgust and disappointment.  This blog will be chock full of spoilers, so if you’re not into them, please stop reading now.  If you are, brace yourselves for a load of crap.

Trent’s Murderer Is Revealed

Yep, the murderer is now known and it’s pretty much the least likely person on the list of suspects.  It’s the person that I instantly threw out because I know the character and it’s just not his style.  Ladies and gentleman, Nick Fallon murdered Trent Robbins.  Why?  I couldn’t say yet.  Apparently Nick is now addicted to pain killers from having been shot, not that we’ve seen that on screen at this point.  I thought, based upon the DUI and him drinking breakfast the other day, that they were making him the latest Horton alcoholic, but no, he’s addicted to pain pills.  I don’t know if that’s what drove him to kill Trent, but we’ll see.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that killer is not some random person we’ve never seen before and it COULD be a good story.  As Tripp pointed out to me, Nick’s family history of mental illness and addiction could be a gold mine and Blake Berris could knock it out of the park.  If I didn’t fear him getting booted from the show, I might actually like this aspect of the spoiler.

The part I 100% do not like is that Nick apparently tells Melanie that he saw her kill Trent and convinces her of her guilt.  He also apparently sends her notes telling her she killed her father and calls her as well.  That, my dears, is not the character of Nick Fallon at all.  When he killed Willow, by accident, he immediately called the police.  When he found out about Ford Decker’s death, he pressured Chelsea and her friends to admit the truth.  The Nick Fallon I know and love would not remotely make an innocent girl take the blame for killing her father.  Drug addiction aside, I just don’t see it and I don’t condone it.  Much hate for this part of the story.

Nicole/EJ

I like this pairing, I really do, even though recently Nicole has turned into a wimpy barnacle attached to EJ’s leg and hanging on desperately.  I understand she feels vulnerable about the baby and Sami, but I like my Nicole devious and snarky, not crying and weak.  Maybe all spunky women EJ gets involved with are ruined?  I don’t know.  Anyway, she apparently gets arrested for Trent’s murder and for some reason thinks EJ might have set her up?  WHAT?  Why would she think that?  Why would EJ do that?  These two don’t have enough drama between them without one thinking the other set them up to be framed for murder?  Also Corday calls them a love/hate relationship which is another WTF to me.  They had real potential but I fear it is being rapidly ruined.

Sami bonds with Rafael

As you already know, Sami witnessed the mayor’s murder and was shot at today.  She’s going to go into protective custody and for some reason outwits her first two guards, knocking one out.  Maybe to go to the doctor the first time, not sure about the second guard.  Anyway, FBI guy Rafael has to guard her stupid ass and they apparently are going to bond, despite her being 6 months pregnant with another man’s baby.  Why does every man in town have to be in love with Sami?  I’m ok with her getting a new guy, Lucas is more than played out and she and EJ are clearly not bringing out the best in each other, I just think the timing of this is ludicrous.  They should have had her NOT be pregnant if they wanted to do this.  Throw in the fact that nobody has noticed that she’s preggers when she’s giant already and it’s just irritating.

Brady Returns

Did anybody miss Brady?  Is there any real purpose for him on the show?  Apparently he’s going to be in a triangle with Lucas and Chloe (what happened to Philip?).  I guess he’ll also be thrust into the John storyline, and Daddy will be mean to him like he was with Belle.  I can’t bring myself to remotely care about that.  New Brady is better looking than old Brady, but there’s no use for him.  We have too many guys as it is.

Kate/Daniel/CHLOE?

Yeah, you read that last part right, no, it’s not supposed to be Chelsea.  Apparently Chloe and Daniel will cross paths and they have some kind of secret with each other.  Now I don’t think Daniel’s excited in his pants for Chloe or anything, but it’s yet another random, WTF thing thrown out there by the writers.  Chloe apparently is going to bond with Kate some too, which I find odd.  They say that Daniel is giving Kate the will to live, which I like, but I don’t want him to be with her out of some sense of obligation.  Maybe Daniel senses that Chloe has some secret illness and he’s just prepping for his next sick chick.  I like Date and I look forward to seeing them play out, I don’t think Chloe needs to be remotely involved with it.

Abe is the New Mayor!!!

Apparently Lexie has a hard time dealing with life in the spotlight and worries about Theo.  She’s also kinda jealous of his bond with Chelsea…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.  I’m sorry, I find anything to do with the Carver clan to be boring as hell.

Philanie?

We might be Stax free for a little while.  Supposedly Max and Chelsea kind of bond with one another over the Stax breakup and Nick/Melanie or some such thing, while Stephanie gets offered a job at Titan by Philip.  We saw the first step toward this today when she dumped on Philip about Max and Mel.  This one I’m ok with, I prefer Stax to be far apart and Philip/Stephanie could be a gold mine of history if the writers care to revisit the old Victor/Steve runins of the past.  Who am I kidding?

Do you see anything there to be that excited about?  More triangles, more guys thrown in to the mix when we have too few girls, Nick a killer, pregnancy hijinks…I just don’t get it.  Well at least I can come here and bitch about it to my fellow dissatisified friends.  While the spoilers may suck, at least I’m prepared for them.  I couldn’t imagine not knowing what was coming; I really need to be prepared for the suck.  Sigh.

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NFL Picks Week 8

Well on weeks that I don’t watch much football, I apparently pull a 7-7 record.  That is not acceptable.  I’d like to thank Baltimore and Indy for continuing to confound me weekly.  You have earned my wrath, boys, so watch it.  Baltimore is getting my reverse voodoo and Indy may not be far behind.  On to the picks:

Tampa Bay over Dallas: I am so scared making this pick.  On paper, the Bucs should win this game handily.  Dallas is ravaged by injuries and Brad Johnson will be starting at QB.  Dallas just got bitchslapped by the Rams, so the Bucs should be able to replicate that and then some.  I just fear Dallas will get it’s crap together this week and go back to their winning ways.  Sigh.  I’ll go with my heart on this one, but I am not happy with it.

Washington over Detroit: Washington failed to impress me against the Browns last week.  They were not too good on offense but their defense played a decent game.  Still, they’re playing Detroit, captained by the infamous Dan Orlovsky (who really should have been my Douchetard a couple weeks ago when he ran out of the back of his own endzone, but I took pity on him).  Washington should win this one easily, though I said the same thing when they faced the Rams and look where that got me?

Buffalo over Miami: Miami came back to earth last week against Baltimore (thanks guys) and defensive coordinators have had a few weeks to figure out how to stop their high school playbook.  Buffalo continues to look strong, I thought they’d have a come down against San Diego but as usual, the Chargers continue to confound me and they handled them easily.  Buff is the pick here.

New England over St. Louis: Rams, are you finally going to stop overachieving and move back to your destiny of 3-13?  NE finally looked good on Monday night, thanks to a whole lot of turnovers.  More injuries have hit them but they should handle the Rams.

New Orleans over San Diego: Honestly, I have no idea how this game will go.  It’s in London and I don’t get to see it (thanks league rules saying I can’t see a game opposite my Bucs!).  I guess I trust Brees more than I do Rivers right now.  Bush is out, so that might factor in.  The fact is, neither of these teams is doing what they should be doing, they are wasting talented offensive players and underachieving big time.  Pick em, I’ll take the Aint’s.

NY Jets over KC: This is going to be a very boring game I think.  Larry Johnson is on the bench for being a jerk.  Favre hasn’t lit up the AFC East like we were led to believe.  The Chiefs are terrible and yet they continue to employ Herm and Carl.  It might be the best job in the world to work for KC or Detroit, look at how long these guys got to suck?  Lucky they aren’t owned by Al Davis I guess!  Anyway, Favre should be able to take KC at least.

Philly over Atlanta: Matt Ryan has been a revelation thus far, but he has yet to beat a team with a decent defense on the road.  Philly has not lived up to expectations this season either, but I have to believe they know they need to make a move here.  With Dallas stinking, the Skins back to earth and the Giants looking less awesome, they still have a chance to make some moves within the division.

Baltimore over Oakland: I will be picking Baltimore every week, since they insist on doing the opposite of what I say they’re going to do, so their choice will be either to do what I say or drop every game.  Suck on it Ravens.  In reality, they should take this one anyway, Oakland may have gotten their OT win against the Jets last week but the Jets don’t have Balt’s (slightly overrated but still good) defense.

Carolina over Arizona: I nearly picked AZ in this game, but I just don’t trust them on the road, not after that Jets performance a couple weeks ago.  Carolina looked dominant last week against the Saints, so we’ll see if they can ride the momentum this week.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Zona took it though.

Jacksonville over Cleveland: Oh Browns, you are such a sad little team on offense.  Throw in the Winslow drama and that doesn’t make me feel they could pull off the upset in Jax this weekend.  Weighing in on that, by the way, Winslow whining over not getting coddled enough by the team while he was in the hospital is to be expected.  He’s always been a bitchy diva, nothing new there.  I agree that the Browns need to do something about the staph infection stuff, but the GM does not have to call him when the coach and the rest of the team have.  And you don’t take that shit public.  Kellen, you’re an idiot.

Houston over Cincy: Cincy could get their first win this week, but I’m not betting on it.  Palmer’s still out, Ocho Cinco is still MIA, their defense sucks…nope, not this week.

Giants over Pittsburgh: Great game!  Could go either way, yet again.  Pitt is still pretty beat up, so I’m going with the Giants, though if they play the way they did the last couple of weeks they’ll be in trouble.  I get to watch this one, which is fun, I like seeing good matchups.

San Fran over Seattle: Oooh another Suck Bowl!  This is a toss up game as well, not sure which way to go, but it’s at SF so why not pick them?  They’ve actually been somewhat competitive in recent weeks while Seattle has not.  Maybe they could ask Jerry Rice to return and suit up for them for a week?  Very sad ending for Holmgren this year.

Tennessee over Indy: In Manning I no longer trust.  What was that last weekend?  What is going on with Indy?  Injured yes, old possibly?  I don’t get it.  You watch, Peyton will throw for 400 yards now.  Sigh.  I’m going with the team that can play D right now.

I didn’t do a wrap up this week due to my trip, but I do still have a Douchetard of the Week to share with you.  That illustrious award goes to the Vikings punt team, that gave up 2 TD to the Bears in a 1 TD loss.  For snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the Vikings punt team is our Douchetard of the Week.

Last Week:  7-7

Season Record:  57-44

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Black & White & Oh So Right!

Due to my trip, I didn’t get to do a Supernatural blog before the weekend.  The black and white episode was lots of fun and oh so beautiful to watch!  Our Intrepid Heroes look gorgeous in black and white, much like my boys of Salem did on Days.  Because this was a stand alone episode that didn’t really advance the major plot of Dean vs. Sam, I’m not going to do a lot of writing.  I’ll just let the pictures tell the story of the shape shifter taking the shapes of Dracula, the Mummy and the Wolfman.  This episode also gave me the joy of Dean strapped on a table dressed in lederhosen.  There can be nothing better than that.  Dean also got some action, tho I included no pics of that because I do not condone girls touching my pretty JA!  I liked that the girl was the one that saved them in the end though and she was actually pretty cool.  On to the pics, courtesy of The CW.com and Supernaturalseries.com.

Dean fighting off dracula

Jensen Ackles is beautiful in black and white

Sam & Dean investigate

Not to be outdone, Jared looks great as well

Perfection

Dean, in lederhosen, strapped to a chair

The mummy

Their expressions killed me, so cute yet so dorky!

Beautiful brothers in a bar

Come to me, boys

And so it ends, it was fun, cute and light

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Living The High Life, The View From The Luxury Box

Fed Ex Field, from the drive in.

I have returned from my trip to Baltimore/DC a little worse for the wear…something about traveling takes everything out of me.  I was up at obscene hours every morning and didn’t get the best sleep ever, but it was worth it for a once in a lifetime trip.  And it will be once in a lifetime, since Dad will retire next year and access to the box will dry up!  I think I’m ruined for all other games from here on out, but I will always have this one weekend in October to hold on to.

The view from the box

The trip in and of itself was mostly uneventful.  The only interesting thing about the airplane experience was on our first flight back, out of Baltimore, we were on the same plane the Ravens had taken back from their game with the Dolphins the night before.  I tried in vain but did not find any left behind diamond earrings or superbowl rings or rolexes to snag.  No bling for Nole!  All I got to see was their menu for the flight…let’s just say the Ravens don’t get peanuts and crackers.  Their appetizer was a choice of double cheeseburgers or salmon.  APPETIZER.  The meal had a choice of steak I think and lasagna and some other stuff.  It was insane.  Why am I not a man with awesome athletic skill?  Gypped.

This was shot from our parking space

Anyhow, game day consisted of me, my father, his coworker Ray, Nobel Prize winner Dr. Moore, this woman they contract with Nancy and her sixth grade son, Christian cruising in our nice SUV.  The drive in was just fine, the fall leaves are gorgeous and something I don’t get to see down in Florida, so I just dug the view.  We got the “Platinum” parking pass, which was an assigned parking space, #24, right in the front row.  I’ll include a picture that I took from the parking space so you will see just how close we were to the stadium and our own entrance.  After a small wait in the security line (during which I got felt up by some woman, bonus points!!!), we entered the building and headed to the elevator to take our private ride up to the boxes.  You have to show your ticket about 3 or 4 times to get into the elevator.  A short ride up and we headed to suite 192.  We were the first of the group there and I took a bunch of pics, some of which I will share with you.

Shot of the bar area and the food setup

Our waiter came in and let us know he’d be bringing the food in within half an hour and he went about setting up the hot plates and getting out the shrimp cocktail.  Some more of dad’s coworkers came in and we milled about the box, gabbing and watching the Boys get spanked by the Rams.  While it’s amusing to watch Dallas lose (if only to see what TO might do on the sidelines), I realized that the Bears/Vikings game was actually good so I found that.  You can watch any game you want up there, which is quite awesome.  The seats are stadium style, but instead of that plastic/metal crap you sit on leather.  There are two rows of those, about 8 seats per row I think, maybe 9 or 10, and then the bar behind that where there were 6 bar stools.   Behind that was the lounge area, with another tv on the wall and 4 leather seats around a little table.  The fruit plate was there, along with the shrimp.  The bar contained popcorn, peanut M&M’s and cashews.  The rest of the food came; which consisted of hot dogs, Italian sausage, sliders, pulled pork, baked beans, chicken tenders, hot wings, coleslaw, chili…and probably other things but that was more than enough.  Rest assured it was good.  I had a hot dog and slider (small burger) and some chicken tenders.  No complaints!  To drink there were sodas and beer and wine, all you could want and they kept it coming if we ran out of stuff.  It was awesome!

Food, drink, tv

Besides food, there may have been a game going on!  hehe The Browns warmed up on my end of the field, so I got a lot of pics of them in the early going.  I did my darndest to get a shot of a field goal going through the uprights, but my cameras delay between press and taking of the pic did not allow that.  I took a bunch of shots of Brady Quinn on the sideline, mainly because my mom likes to yell, “Brady Quinn, Brady Quinn” every time she sees him due to the Notre Dame obsession the media has.  Being at a game that I have no vested interest in was pretty new to me, it was enjoyable but I didn’t have that hyper excitement I tend to have during games involving my team.  It made me more observer than participant I guess.  Dad really got into it, he was a Browns fan growing up and though he supports them now, he didn’t seem to be that into them but he was for this game.  It was fun to listen to him cheer them on.  Most of the people in the box were Skins fans, tho there was some rep for the Raiders, the Pats and the Bears.  Pats girl and I bonded over the loss of Brady and what the Pats could be doing in the rather woeful AFC this season were he around…le sigh.

Browns gather before the game

The game itself was a rather boring 0-0 tie in the first half.  I could have enjoyed a defensive struggle but it felt more like offensive ineptitude than a defensive battle.  The second half perked up a bit with a TD on my end of the field for the Skins.  Clinton Portis had a great day running, much better than I thought when I heard the stats after the game.  He went for 175 yards.  It didn’t feel like it but there you go.  On a personal note, the sun was pounding into the box for the entire first half and the beginning of the second.  I, being a Floridian, had listened and worn long pants and a sweater, the majority being black by the way.  I was roasting by the time the second half hit, but it was a comfortable heat! haha  You can open two windows in the box and the breeze helped somewhat though.

The Skins huddle, shortly before their TD

The Browns made things interesting with a turnover following a goal line stand by the Skins, they got a quick TD and got the ball back and drove to field goal range with 30 seconds to go.  Dawson missed, wide right, though, and the game ended, Skins won 14-11.  We headed back out and instead of waiting in the elevator line, walked down with the masses.  The nice thing, of course, was that the car was close by.  The non-nice thing is that you can’t avoid the rest of the people leaving the stadium at the same time.  It took something like 45 minutes to an hour to get out of the parking lot.  That was a mess, my friends.  We were lucky enough to be in the lane we needed, but there was nothing marked for a long time telling us which lane we needed to be in.  Happily I was not driving, so I just sat back and enjoyed the drunk Skins fans.

Touchdown Skins!

Gotta hand it to the Skins fans, they are loud and they are proud and they love their team.  Chris Cooley is clearly their favorite, or the one they most like to yell “Coooooooooolllllllllllll” for.  It’s like Bucs fans with “Ruuuuuuuuudddddddd”.  They get loud at all the right times and the stadium rocks.  I had a very good time and I fear that I am spoiled for all other games now.  I liked the comfort of the box and didn’t feel removed from the stadium experience at all.  I hope that I made you all feel a part of my experience, it was a one of a kind day and I’ll remember it always.  Maybe only getting to do it once will make me appreciate it all the more!  I truly enjoyed my one day of living the high life; hopefully you did too!

A final shot as night fell over the stadium

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