Just Call Me The Commish

Watch out, Finchem, I'm gunning for your job!

While watching my daily dose of PTI (Pardon The Interruption for the non-ESPN watchers) last week I was astounded when Wilbon & Kornheiser welcomed their guest for 5 good minutes.  He was introduced as Timothy Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA.  Did you know that the PGA had a commissioner?  Have you ever heard that name before?  I honestly had no clue there was a Commissioner of Golf, or why they’d even need one.  I guess to manage the money but seems an accountant could do that well enough.  It fascinated me and I got to thinking, could there be any better job than PGA Commissioner?  I’m sure the guy makes great bank and has few headaches, right?  That got me to comparing the various sports commissioners and weighing which job was better.  Hence this blog.  I’m not going to include the BCS Commissioner because being the commissioner of a league that lets computers decide its champion is a thing of shame, not to be glorified in a blog by me.

So, from worst to first:

MLB Commissioner:  Do you think Bud Selig is having any fun these days?  His biggest star admits to doing steroids, Congress continues to cast a baleful glare in his direction, two of his former biggest stars are getting ready to go on trial for steroids and lying to Congress, the All Star game decides home field advantage in the World Series…that’s a whole laundry list of problems.  And the fact that Selig turned a blind eye to the problems in baseball coupled with his kowtowing to the player’s union for years and years makes this job rather unappealing to me.   Not to mention just waiting for the hammer to drop and other names to come out.  I get an ulcer just thinking about it.  Nope, I wouldn’t want to be Bud.

NHL Commissioner:  I had a hard time placing this one.  On the one hand, hardly anybody watches hockey so you kind of get to exist in a vacuum.  Nobody really knows if you suck, because nobody really cares.  But that has to affect profitability, right?  The fact is they have been unable to find a star with drawing power.  Wayne Gretzky left and I don’t think the sport has been the same.  I’ve heard some not so pleasant things about Gary Bettman’s reign as commish, but I also heard that he improved the game somewhat with that OT shoot-out business.  The simple fact is, I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup, but at least I know his name.  He lands at #4 simply because his sport is pretty irrelevant.  Oh, and it’s too long for my taste, they crown a champ and it feels like they’re back to playing a month later.  Minus points for that.

NFL Commissioner:  Ahh Roger Goodell time!  The NFL is the #1 sport in America, so the job would appear to be the best of all of them when it comes to that factor.  Profits rise every year (unless you’re Detroit) and the league enjoys a lack of public scrutiny when it comes to things like steroids and drug testing.  This is because they have had stringent tests for years, although one suspects that the players are smarter than the tests.  Nobody cares like they do in baseball though, we just wanna win!  The reason this job is not the most appealing is because of the outside elements you have to deal with as commish.  The Pacman Jones’ of the world, if you will.  With each team having 53 players, it only takes one per team to create a lot of strife.  Dealing with the Mike Vicks and Plaxico Burress’ of the league would not be fun.  Nearly weekly someone is getting in trouble for something, be it drugs or DUI or shooting yourself in the thigh.  Points deducted for the troublemakers and the sheer number of people you’re dealing with and NFL Commish falls to the 3 spot.

NBA Commissioner:  I don’t watch the NBA, but I know who David Stern is and I could pick him out of a lineup.  I could pick him out because he scares me.  I would finger some other guy for the crime and hope that Stern would reward me in some way.  Basketball players are apt to fall into the same kind of trouble as football players are, pot smoking seeming to be the chief no-no they get nailed with.  But there are far fewer players to deal with here, so there’s less to worry about.  Hell, the #1 or #2 star in the league was charged with rape years ago and that affected nothing.  Points are deducted here because the NBA remains only the #3 sport of the big 4, with no signs of ever moving up the list.  Despite having some stars with name power, Lebron and Kobe, they’re still not MJ or Magic or Bird.  Your random person doesn’t care.  So Stern only gets #2.  I hope he refrains from hurting me!

PGA Commissioner:  Yep, that’s right, the guy I’ve never heard of, Tim Finchem, gets the top spot.  Think about it, who’s the league troublemaker?  John Daly right?  And everyone STILL loves the guy.  Nobody wants him punished, they want to sit down and have a beer with him.  Sure, you have Sergio take the occasional spit into a cup, but if that’s your biggest problem then you’re sitting on gold.  Your biggest concern is to make sure Tiger Woods is happy, right?  He was on PTI to celebrate Tiger’s return and what it means to the PGA.  Your #1 superstar is never going to get arrested for beating a woman or doing drugs.  He’s the ultimate family man and world ambassador.  Stern and Goodell would laugh at Finchem if he ever called them to complain about any of Daly’s silly acts.  Timmy gets to sit back and count his coins and maybe play a round or two of golf.  Tough life.

So there you have it.  There’s no better commissioner’s job than that of the Tim Finchem’s.  I’m aware that I have no idea what kind of administrative coordination these guys do, I’m sure it’s involved and whatnot but I still figure the PGA dude has it the best.  So, I’d like to throw my hat in the ring.  I’m running for PGA Commish.  Watch out Finchem!

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Nole’s Notes

Nothing brings out the manlove like winning the Super Bowl. Photo from Getty Images.

Now that the NFL season is officially over, I guess I have to turn my attention to other sports.  I’ll be honest with you, other sports do not entrance me the way football does, but I do pay attention to headlines and major happenings for the most part.  So I’ve decided to do a weekly Notes Blog wherein I discuss the major sports happenings of the week.  It will be football, baseball, tennis, hockey, basketball, whatever strikes my fancy.  Without further ado, let’s hit it!

• Today is national signing day for the college recruits.  Well, most of them, for some reason some of them don’t commit today and commit several weeks from now.  So why have a deadline?  I really don’t get that.  Anyway, today us college football lovers get excited about all of these random people we never heard of before and get depressed over missing out on other top recruits.  I hope on espn.com and seminoles.com to find out what my Noles are doing and where they’re rated and who we’ve got and who we might get.  I get rather obsessive about it and refresh every half hour or so.  And today I ask myself why?  I don’t know these kids.  I don’t know anything about them other than somebody slammed 5 stars next to this guy and only 3 next to that guy.  Doesn’t really mean they’ll kick butt on the field, I’ve seen many of the top recruits flame out over the years.  But still, I care, and I get excited!  Go Noles!  We did land the top DT in the nation apparently, which pleases me, as well as high rated cornerbacks and safeties and a kicker.  All positions of major need so I’m content.  So, hope you’re having a blast college football gurus, may your school land those top recruits and may everybody decommit from USC and UF just because I hate them.
• So everybody’s all up in arms about this Michael Phelps marijuana smoking picture.  Some of the morons in the media blasted him for letting his picture get taken.  Hello, I don’t believe he knew it was.  Also, he is a 23 year old and he will do the occasional stupid thing.  That’s what happens in the early 20’s.  He admitted it, which was pretty stand up of him, because I saw the picture and it really didn’t even look that much like him.  I’d have gone with the lie personally, but then I happen to be an accomplished and awesome liar.  Now apparently the police are thinking of charging him.  Can you charge someone for a picture?  I mean, you may as well hit myspace right now and get your warrants ready.  What a bunch of bull.  Leave him alone, lesson learned, moving on, get in the pool and win some more gold medals in 4 years.  Thanks, buh bye.
• Apparently indictment records against Bonds were released this week and lo and behold, he tested positive for steroids.  This is GROUND BREAKING NEWS.  I was not aware of this information!!!!  I mean, I know he doubled his size right in front of our very eyes a couple years ago, but I assumed it was natural.  He was probably hitting Taco Bell and McDonald’s every night.  I can grow to twice my size very easily when I do that and I’m not on the roids!  Truly, I am sick of this story.  Get a trial going or don’t, I really don’t care anymore.  I am tired of Barroid and want him gone.  It doesn’t matter if he goes to jail or just goes home and counts his money and throws baseballs at passers by from his bedroom window.  Just go away!
• Roger Clemens, the same goes to you.  We know you did roids, you know you did roids, why are we all still talking about it?  Government, put up or shut up.  We’ll see if the vengeful media punishes Roger and Barry or if they usher them into the hall of fame with their not very valid we don’t know when he used argument.  If you’re going to keep Big Mac and Palmiero and others out, you keep those two out too.  Period.
• Kobe broke the scoring record at Madison Square Gardens the other night, got 61 there I guess.  That’s cool I suppose, not as cool as the 81 he got a couple of years ago.  It appears that nobody will ever beat Wilt’s record which is a shame, I live to watch records fall and I would actually tune in to a basketball game if there’s a possible scoring record on the line.
• What was going on in Pittsburgh on Tuesday?  I’ve seen some clips of the Super Bowl celebration party and that was the quietest damn crowd I’ve ever seen.  What, #6 is just passe now?  Ramp up the celebration, peeps!  Bring the energy, it’s cold out there so you should be yelling and whooping it up!  Perhaps William Gay’s retarded rap song stunned them all into silence.  I could understand that.  The record execs will not be knocking down your door Willie.
• Manny Ramirez remains unsigned and the Dodgers are getting a little bit tired of him turning down their rather large contract offers.  Albert Pujols of my St. Louis Cardinals is pushing for my spendthrift owners to get off their butts and bring him there.  At first I was horrified by this idea but then I thought of the beauty of having and Albert/Manny combo at 3/4 and I decided I could suck it up and deal with the Manny drama.  Do it!  Do it now, Cards!  It’s not like you’ve bothered to do anything to improve the team this off season, so there should be some cash lying around for Manny.  Albert with keep him reigned in, I have faith in that!
• I guess there was some epic tennis this past weekend.  Can’t say that I watched, but Federer/Nadal round 2938293 or whatever it was was a long battle that drained them both.  Nadal came out the victor and Federer had a heartfelt teary speech.  Nadal came back with his own honoring Federer.  Awesome display of sportsmanship.  Serena won again as well, go Williams Sisters.  I don’t follow the sport but I do follow them and I love that she’s still winning at an age when most tennis chicks are retiring.
• The Cardinals offensive coordinator is interviewing for the KC job.  He and Pioli have a history together so that’s a pretty good possibility.  If he goes that will probably be good for the Cards when it comes to retaining Boldin, but who can say what it means for Warner?  Haley’s done a great job with that offense and deserves another head coaching job.
• I didn’t do a Super Bowl commentary, by the time I thought about it I was immersed in Heroes blogging and Days drama and Idol in Hollywood, so the opportunity slipped past me.  But I will say that was the best Super Bowl I’ve ever seen.  I know it was quiet in the 3rd quarter but since I knew that AZ could score quickly I remained riveted.  Worked out well all in all.  My heart was broken for the Cards, that had to have been a major gut punch to lose; but the football fan in me was thrilled with the last minute TD by Santonio Holmes.  Gorgeous play, fantastic game.
• There should have been a longer review of the Warner fumble at the end of the game.  I hate to have a game that good end somewhat questionably.  No matter where you fell on was it or wasn’t it, you have to agree it should have gotten more than cursory glance in the booth.  I would have loved to see Warner get a shot at the end zone with Fitz and Boldin waiting.

So those are the big things on my mind this week.  I hope you liked this format, I’ll be happy to stick with it if people like it.  If it seems like I’m just talking to myself I’ll call it quits, because I talk to myself all the time and I could save myself some future carpal tunnel treatment if ya’ll don’t like it.  Let me know!

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Week 15 NFL Picks

We’re heading into the home stretch and it’s time for the potential contenders to man up and win.  Will anybody step forward?  We’re about to find out.  I’m coming off a 12-4 week last week, so we’re riding high and eying the playoffs.  Let’s see who will step up.

Chicago over NO: Yikes, a tough game right out of the gate.  I’m extremely torn on this pick, but NO has been a different team away from the Dome and I imagine Soldier Field won’t be friendly for them.  So, I ride with Orton and the Bears…never thought I’d say that one but they’re in contention, so they get the pick.

Atlanta over Tampa Bay: The Bucs are coming off a demoralizing defense effort against Carolina on Monday night.  Now they probably will be without Garcia due a calf injury.  I’m taking Atlanta at home because of that.

Washington over Cincy: Washington is still statistically possible for the playoffs, but I think they’re offense is pretty crappy so I don’t bet on that one happening.  Still, they’re playing Cincy.  There’s really nothing to say about Cincy, so of course I go with the Skins for the win.  Wonder if Portis will whine this week? Silly question!

Seattle over St. Louis: The Seahawks are showing signs of life with their QB and a few WRs back.  The Rams are studying next years draft eligible underclassmen and looking for a new owner.  Makes this a rather easy pick, no?

San Fran over Miami: Yep, I’m going with a surprise here.  Miami inexplicably continues to win every week, but San Fran has been coming on strong and playing with new life in recent weeks.  Can they be a team to overcome the west to east travel woes we’ve seen this season?  I’m saying yes, it’s time for Miami to blow a game they should win.

NY Jets over Buffalo: The Jets are coming off their loss to San Fran and Buffalo continues to look worse every week.  It doesn’t sound like a very fun game to watch, but I imagine the Jets will right the ship.  The AFC East is still up for the taking.  What happened to Edwards?  I don’t get it.

Indy over Detroit: I think I can breathe a sigh of relief on the 0-16 watch this week.  I don’t see Indy losing this game unless Peyton Manning takes the day off to film some commercials and he takes the O-line and WRs with him.  Even then, the defense has been playing well and would probably win anyway.  I love you Detroit!  Keep the dream alive!

San Diego over Kansas City: Who knows really?  The AFC West is one of those divisions where anything can happen in any given week.  San Diego should win, so they probably won’t.  I hate this entire division, none of them can make up their minds on who they really are.

Green Bay over Jacksonville: Green Bay has been up and down all season, but Jax has been down all season, so this makes this game an easy pick.  What happened to the Pack?  They looked a sure thing for their division but now they’re likely out of it.  And Favre chortles with glee….

Tennessee over Houston: Now I have to be scared of this game, because all of a sudden Houston remembered how to play football.  Or, well, more likely it’s because Sage is not behind center anymore, but still.  They’re playing well and knocking off teams that they shouldn’t, so I imagine this will be a tight game.  I’ll go with Tenn but I don’t feel great about it.

Arizona over Minnesota: The Cardinals continue to confound me and they’re playing a decent team, so they might lose as they seem to do when they’re playing someone decent.  I’m going with them for the win at home, I know Gus got hurt last week and that has to factor in.  I think their D can keep Peterson from hurting them and they’ll walk away with the win.

Carolina over Denver: Who knows?  Which Denver team is going to show up?  This could be a really good game or it could be a blowout.  I need Denver to take it but I have no faith that they will.  Their defense is pretty porous and everybody saw what the Panther running tandem can do on Monday night.

Pittsburgh over Baltimore: Ahh a real tough game this week.  Hard hitting, hating each other action.  I love it!  Pitt is coming off their improbable win over Dallas (Hey Romo!!!) and Baltimore is coming off an asskicking over the Skins.  I like Big Ben better than Flacco, due to experience only.  Hines Ward will be hunted but I think he’ll score the game winner.

New England over Oakland: NE struggled against San Fran but pulled out a win, 2 games in a row on the west coast?  Nice schedule makers!  NE needs this one to remain in contention, I think they’ll pull out another gritty win.

NY Giants over Dallas: The Giants beat down Dallas earlier in the year.  This game will probably be much closer but I like the Giants D to get after Romo and create some more turnovers.  The Plaxico distraction is another week old, hopefully Hixon can play a better game this week and the Giants can smack the Cowboys right out of the playoff hunt.

Philly over Cleveland: Somebody woke up the Eagles last week, who knew?  They were impressive against the Giants.  They won’t have to try as hard to defeat Cleveland, obviously, but they’re making things a little more interesting.  I don’t see them making the postseason but it is a possibility.  We’ll see!

That’s my view of how week 15 will go down, we’ll see how it goes.  Enjoy the games!

Last Week:  12-4

Season Record:  133.5-73.5

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Week 14 NFL Picks

I apologize for not doing an NFL Notes this week, my laptop cord did not arrive until Tuesday and by then my mind was occupied with other things.  The old attention span is not what she used to be!  Anyway, I think last week’s Sage Rosenfels Memorial Douchetard Award goes to Drew Brees, for throwing 2 picks in the final 2 minutes of the game instead of leading his team to victory.  I am grateful, of course, cause it benefitted my team, but he still wins!

San Diego over Oakland: Hey, a team that SD can beat.  Maybe.  Errr…well yeah, they should anyway.  How sad have the Chargers become?  LT is having a season long sulk (he’s very emo, that one) and I don’t even hear Phillip River’s name mentioned as a good QB anymore.  I’m not sorry to miss this game.

Chicago over Jacksonville: Here we have another team that is beyond terrible, completely doing the opposite of what everyone thought they would do.  I know that the Jags O-line was decimated but what happened to their defense?  Chicago still has a chance in their division, tho I like Minny and GB more, so I expect them to step it up here.

Minnesota over Detroit: We’re in the home stretch, only 1/4 of the season left to go Detroit.  Don’t let me down!  Minny losing the Williams brothers (not brothers but I like to call them that) could be a big issue but I’m holding to my 0-16 dream.

GB over Houston: Houston has come alive in recent weeks and GB lost a heartbreaker to Carolina, but I don’t expect that trend to continue here.  GB is just the better team, they’re in the playoff hunt, so they’re getting the nod.  Sage, don’t let me down!

Tennessee over Cleveland: I believe I read somewhere that Ken Dorsey was going to be the Browns QB.  Color me stunned that he was still even in the league.  I assumed he went nowhere after SF.  Oh well.  I’m sure he’ll have a lot of fun getting smacked around by Tennessee.  Poor Romeo Crennel, trying to save his job with his 3rd string QB?  Update that resume!

Indy over Cincy: I don’t know what the hell was going on with Indy last week, that scintillating 10-6 game against the Browns, 7 of which came from the defense.  Perhaps Peyton was thinking of his next commercial shoot?  I don’t know.  I imagine he could beat Cincy even if he was filming his commercial during defensive possessions, so this isn’t a hard one.

New Orleans over Atlanta: This one is a tossup.  I figure coming off the loss at Tampa and playing at home, that NO will put together a better game.  Atlanta keeps on winning though, so I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if they take it.  I’m really going with what’s best for the Bucs…Atl needs to be knocked back a game, so that’s my pick.

NY Giants over Philly: McNabb and co came alive last week but is it too little, too late?  The Giants roll on despite players shooting themselves and disposing of guns and media circuses…so I’m going to continue to roll with the champs.  They’ve been nothing but impressive this year, no matter what has happened they’ve continued to smack teams in the mouth.  I really like them.

Denver over KC: I thought I had Denver figured out but then they kicked the crap out of the Jets last week.  Then I realized that I don’t have a damn clue what Denver will do.  They’re so up and down I feel like I’m on a roller coaster.  But they’re playing KC this week, so they should win.  Which, by my math, means they will lose.  Sigh.  I hate Denver for messing with me.

Miami over Buffalo: I don’t know what in the hell has happened to the Bills after their 5-1 start, but they have become a lost team.  Maybe Edwards is still concussed but playing anyway?  I don’t know.  Miami continues to win…they’re not pretty but they’re doing it, so I go with them again here.

NY Jets over SF: Some of the Jet love has died down a bit thanks to the aforementioned Denver loss, and I can’t say I am sorry about that.  When will I be free of the Farve lovefest?  Never…I know.  Leon Washington (SEMINOLE!!!) is a real prize this year and they’re wisely using him all over the place.  Keep that up and they can make some noise, but no, they are not the 2nd best team in the league as some would have you believe.

New England over Seattle: I knew better than to pick the Pats against the Steelers last week.  I don’t know why I did it.  I guess I used heart over head that time.  Instead of talking about this game, I’m going to rant here about the NFL sending the Pats/Bucs games to London next year.  Obviously the league hates me.  This is the ONE GAME that I wanted to go to next year.  Here, in Tampa, I could see BOTH of my teams, I could stalk Tom Brady, I could be overcome with football joy all in the same day!  So what do they do?  Move that game to LONDON.  I am not going to LONDON to see both of my teams play.  This enrages me.  I demand that the NFL ship me over there to see the game I’ve been looking forward to since I first heard about it on the schedule.  Hate.

Arizona over St. Louis: Kind of a no brainer, since the Rams are the most terrible team this side of Detroit.  When will Zona get it together and start knocking off some real teams though?  They seem to beat the teams you expect them to, but no surprises.  I don’t consider Dallas a surprise because they are not as elite as they would like us to believe.

Pittsburgh over Dallas: Yeah this is the kind of game I can see Dallas get smacked around a bit.  That defense is going to go after those WR’s and Romo…should be fun.  Could go either way but I like Pitt’s toughness.

Baltimore over Washington: I’m done with the Skins.  They haven’t been impressive in weeks, even when they win.  Baltimore continues to surprise me, rookie QB or no, they’re playing pretty well.  Not an elite team but definitely an improving one.

Tampa Bay over Carolina: This game could easily go the other way but I like the tenacity the Bucs are playing with.  Doesn’t matter how far behind or how far head they are, they keep on fighting.  It’s impressive to watch.  They’re not exciting but they’re winning.  Carolina, meanwhile, is giving up a lot of points and very inconsistent week to week, so I’m going with the Bucs.

That about does it, I’ll have my regular NFL Notes back this week and we’ll discuss all the big happenings the NFL brings our way.

Last Week:  9-7

Season Record:  121.5-69.5

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A Blog About Everything; Sports, Soaps, Movies and Books

I’m back from my Thanksgiving holiday and still without my laptop cord.  Hopefully that’ll be here on Tuesday and I can get back to my regular blogging schedule.  I hate using my desktop for the blog, don’t ask me why, no real reason, I just do.  So, anyway, lots of stuff on my mind and instead of doing about 5 or 6 little blogs, we’ll do one big one that encapsulates everything this time out.

Days of Our Lives

Last week on Days was filled with heartbreak and two of the best performances on this show in ages.  I attribute this to the actors themselves rather than the writing, which is still this side of atrocious.  Ari Zuker (Nicole) and Blake Berris (Nick) hit every emotional beat in some very hard scenes.  Nicole lost her baby and you actually felt like she really lost her child.  Her pain and overwhelming sadness was actually tangible to the viewer.

Blake Berris also had some stuff to do in the last couple of weeks, showing Nick’s descent from sweetness into craziness.  He lied and convinced Melanie that she killed her father, then she called him on it and the police closed in and he just became an utter shell of himself.  He appears to be a broken man and yet he’s still trying to look out for the girl he thinks he loves.  This viewer just wants to reach into the screen and give him a hug, he’s appearing so lost and alone.  Again, kudos.

I have to give him kudos now, because Days is stupidly letting go of one of their most talented young actors in January.  I hope he gets to leave as a recovered Nick with a bright future.  I have no faith in this, but it is my wish.  Meanwhile, Nicole, while awesome, will no doubt now result to baby lies and possible stealing, thus being ruined yet again.  She was the one character that Higley actually wrote decently but you can see the writing on the wall for her.  You know what I’d really like to see?  I would like to see the loss of the baby break her and drive her back to the bottle.  EJ could run across her drinking and tear into her, thinking she’s endangering their child.  She could either go two ways then, fake the loss after a drinking binge that she blames upon EJ for some reason or come clean about losing the kid and we see how EJ reacts.  I would far prefer either scenario to her ending up with Sami’s kid, which is clearly what is going to happen.  Higley claimed there would be twists and turns that we wouldn’t see coming, but if anybody is fooled they should be hired by the Days writing staff at this point.  A more heavy handed anvil I never did see.  Hate.

Twilight

A week and a half ago a friend of mine recommended that I read the Twilight series.  I had been mildly intrigued by the storyline so I figured why not?  I bought the first book on Saturday and read it in a day.  I bought the second and third books and read them on Sunday and Monday.  Over the holiday weekend I reread all 3 again and bits of them here and there as well.  I am officially obsessed with this story.  Edward and Bella feel like they’re a part of me, or I’m a part of them or some damn thing.   I am waiting for the 4th book, which I could not find at the stores, to be here on Wednesday and I’m feeling rather lost waiting for it.  I don’t know if it’s cause the books are written in the first person that you feel so involved, or if it’s how intriguing the idea of a vampire following in love with the one girl who he wants to bite more than anything or if it’s young obsessive love…I’m just hooked. 

So I saw the movie on Saturday with my mom (which took some doing as mom is not the type to enjoy vampires at all, haha).  It was just okay.  I did like the actor they hired for Edward, which is a big deal because he really is the character that most grabs me.  The actress for Bella was just okay, she didn’t do a great job of showing just how deeply in love with Edward she is.  The movie kind of glazed over the obsession aspect which I thought was a miss.  I also didn’t care for them having James and Victoria and Laurent hunting in the town and starting off investigations.  I like Bella’s dad remaining ignorant of the world she’s immersing herself in.  I thought Dr. Cullen’s makeup was a bit too much, he stood out like a sore thumb, but the rest of the vamps were good.  Robert Pattinson brought an otherworldly charm to Edward though, and that was enough to keep me absorbed in the story.  We’ll see how they swing the next one when he’s off for over half the time though, I don’t think she can carry half the next movie on her own.  Of course, they may make it different like they did this one, then we’ll see. 

In summation, I could not recommend the book series more, at least the first three.  I’ll let you know how I feel about number 4 this weekend I’m sure.  Any Twilight fans that happen across this, I’d love to chat with you more in depth about the books.  I have a few complaints but mostly I really want someone to share my new obsession with.  The movie is alright, if you like the books it’s worth a looksee.

Heroes

It was nice to see the Petrelli bros back to their bromance and bitching at one another again.  LOVED the Sylar/Elle kiss.  I still don’t know where they’re going with Elle, one minute she seems to be sweet and loving and the next she’s trying to reignite our favorite serial killer this side of Dexter, but that kiss was hot.  Sylar’s “I’ll do what I want” and then grabbing her and kissing her?  VERY HOT.  Not hot, HRG having a gun trained on them.  They need to live and have Selle sex followed by a Selle baby.  I will not be able to forgive the ever awesome HRG if he kills Elle. 

Too bad Claire won’t really die.  Sigh.  Love the Daphne twist, her being unable to walk without braces without her power.  That’s cool.  I do not remotely like Hiro’s storyline, but Seth Green being there this week will still please me.  Seth Green is magic.

Have Gun, Will Shoot

So apparently Plaxico Burress of the NY Giants managed to shoot himself in the thigh this weekend at a club.  I know I don’t feel complete unless I’m packing when I hit the dance floor, so this is clearly an understandable offense.  A mistake.  An accident.  Mere semantics.  Or…maybe not.  Maybe it’s just another example of such utter stupidity and recklessness that far too many athletes embody these days.  What happened to the days of posses of 10 or 15 dudes?  Let them carry the weaponry while you have a good time.  What’s the point of having loads of money if you have to defend yourself?  You pay people and let them take care of your issues.  Morons.  Apparently Antonio Pearce took the gun and did something with it too, so he could be in trouble as well.  Plax didn’t bother to get a permit for the gun so he’s charged with felony gun possession.  I’m sure Antonio will get hit with an accessory charge.  I just…there’s really nothing to say about how fucking stupid some people are.  You have everything, why waste it?

I don’t see the Giants letting Plaxico come back to the team next year.  He’s had several disciplinary incidents this year and frankly, they play just fine without him.  Another case of a player thinking he’s the be all and end all of the world and hopefully finding out that is not the case.

College Football

Thanks for showing up yesterday, Noles.  Really, that was quite a show you put together against Florida.  Why is it, we have a much better team, yet we get thrashed by 30 this year?  We were at least with a TD or two the last two years.  Sigh.  Ponder is just not ready for a big game like that the defense seemed unable to tackle Tebow.  I stopped watching in the third quarter…if my team can’t make an effort out there, I’m sure as shit not going to give them my time.

Farewell Charlie Weis.  35-3 against USC with less than 100 yards total offense.  That’s lovely.  That’s the kind of thing you can put on a resume.  I loathe USC but I probably loathe ND more so it was kinda funny to me.

My opinion?  Texas beat Oklahoma, therefore they should be ranked ahead of them.  I hate that damn BCS though and hope that the bitching reaches all time high levels.  The BCS getting to decide the Big 12 championship is just friggin laughable.  Until there is a viable playoff I’m going to make up some random name for the champion.  The Computer Champion That Might Have Been The Real Champion, But Who Can Say???  That’ll be their title.  I loathe the BCS.

UF is going to annihilate Alabama this weekend.  Period.  Bama is nowhere near as good as the Gators.  Damned if I know who could beat them in the championship game, OK might stand a chance but I’m not too confident of that.  I loathe Florida, people, so you know I am loathe to admit it but they are damn good.  I’m still glad we hurt Harvin though.

Well I think that’s enough rambling for now, I’ll hopefully be up and running again on Tuesday so we’ll chat about Heroes sometime then.  Back at ya soon!

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Week 13 NFL Picks

Hi all, I’m gonna be short and sweet this week due to a laptop issue and time constraints for traveling, hope you understand.  That’s why we had no NFL Notes this week either.  Douchetard for last week goes to Matt Hasselbeck for an ill timed pick at the end of the game when they were driving to tie or beat the Skins.  I feel bad since his team sucks but nobody else stood out last week.  Feel free to correct me if you think of something better!  On to the picks:

Tennesee over Detroit

Dallas over Seattle

Arizona over Philly-I am officially off the Eagles bandwagon, they’ve screwed up weekly.

Buffalo over San Fran

Baltimore over Cincy

Indy over Cleveland

Carolina over Green Bay-could be a good one, both coming off bad losses

Miami over St. Louis

Tampa over New Orleans

NY Giants over Washington

Atlanta over San Diego-Good lord, Atlanta is actually a player in the playoff race

New England over Pittsburgh

NY Jets over Denver

Oakland over KC

Minny over Chicago

Jacksonville over Houston-Finally someone Jax should be able to beat

So that’s all I have for this week, I’ll have more detailed remarks next week, rest assured.  Have a great Thanksgiving all!

Last Week:  11-5

Season Record:  112.5-62.5

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Week 12 NFL Picks

It doesn’t get much better than this.  I’m coming at you from a 13.5 win week baby!  Yes I said 1/2.  I get some credit for the tie, dammit, don’t mess with me!  Best week yet, for me, not for McNabb and Philly.  But this is all about me, so I don’t care.  He won a Dual Douchetard Award, so he should be happy.  Had I known about his lack of overtime knowledge, he might have been the sole winner.  Ah well, what will be will be!

Pittsburgh over Cincy: Fresh off that scintillating showdown with Philly, Cincy gets to take on Pittsburgh.  Can they take the same state into OT again?  Uh…no.  No, not happening.  This is one game I won’t be upset over the NFL Network showing and me not getting to see.  Lucky for them my Thursday night NFL schedule is loaded anyway.

Tampa Bay over Detroit: I’m not gonna lie, I’m very nervous about this game.  The pressure of not being the team to give Detroit it’s first win.  It’s tough people, it’s tough.  This is the kind of game where Tampa plays down to the competition too.  I’m having the faith that my boys won’t send me into a shame spiral this week.  The news that Graham is out for the year depresses me, but I think we have enough backs to make things happen.

Tennessee over NY Jets: Alright, this is the game that people are hyped over, thinking Favre can deal Tenn their first lost.  And I toyed with it for a brief moment, but no, I don’t think so.  That defensive line will give Favre some headaches and he’ll toss a few picks and the game will be over.  Tenn marches on undefeated.

Buffalo over KC: The Bills freefall has to end sometime right?  And KC is a good place for it to end.  I nearly picked the Chiefs, they’ve been playing fairly well, but I think Buffalo has to get their mojo back at some point, so they’re the pick here.  Not feeling good about this one though, I forewarn you!

Chicago over St. Louis: Oh Rams, you’re so cute.  So pathetically cute.  And you can’t even get the first pick in the draft thanks to winning those two games.  Silly Rams.  This would have been a much better game for the Bears to bring Orton back, it’s like playing the JV squad or something.

New England over Miami: I was tempted to take Miami again, but NE has to go for payback here and they are playing a lot better than they were in game one.  Pride’s on the line for the Pats here so I say they squeak it out.  Should be a good game.

Minnesota over Jacksonville: The Jags played Tenn tough for a half but couldn’t take the game in the second half.  I think Minny’s defense will be able to get some pressure on Gerrard and get a few takeaways.  This game could go either way but I’ll take Minn, they’re still in contention in their division.

Philly over Baltimore: Will the real Baltimore please stand up?  For that matter, will the real Philly?  If Balt had played the Giants tough I would have taken them here, but they didn’t.  Philly’s blitzes will likely give Flacco a hard time and I predict more turnovers. McNabb now knows about OT, so I don’t foresee a problem there.  Poor Donovan.

Cleveland over Houston: I have to admit it, Brady Quinn can throw a nice pass.  And it’s even better when Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow remember how to catch them.  Houston just blows, but with the lack of a decent defense on either side of the field, this could be a high scoring game.  Cleveland is better so they’re my pick.

Dallas over San Fran: Here’s a game for Dallas to get healthier in a hurry.  I wasn’t overly impressed with the Boys last weekend and I won’t be impressed with them when they win here either.  Something is missing from this team and I just don’t think they’re going anywhere.

Denver over Oakland: I still can’t figure out Denver, but even they should be able to beat Oakland.  They took out Atlanta last weekend, which I did not expect, but this is a division game so it could be uglier than I expect.  Still, it’s Oakland.  There’s not much more to say than that.

Washington over Seattle: Are there any good games this week?  Why is nothing exciting me so far on the schedule?  Washington hasn’t played a good game in weeks and Seattle is getting a little healthier, so this could actually be a tight one.  If the Skins want to play in the post season, they need to take this one.

NY Giants over Arizona: AHHHH here’s a good game.  Finally!  Who would ever think I’d say that about a game involving the Cardinals?  Could be a high scoring game, but I have faith that the Giants D will get to Warner now and then and cause a pick or two, plus a fumble.  Warner does fumble, even if he’s having an awesome year.  I hope I get this game, because it should be fun.

Atlanta over Carolina: Self serving pick here, I need Carolina to take a loss and this is the game they need to do it.  Atlanta is tough at home and I think, coming off a loss, they’ll respond well.  Jake Delhomme hasn’t played well in a couple of weeks so I’m hoping that continues.  It’d be a bit of an upset probably, but we’ll go with it.

Indy over San Diego: Let’s face it, the Chargers are done and Indy has come to life.  I am still not enamored with them, their defense is suspect, but the Chargers look old and lost out there.  This would have been a great game a year or two ago.  Sad.  Manning’s rejuvinated lately and I look to him to dominate this one.

Green Bay over New Orleans: This could be a fun game, but I like GB’s defense much better than NO’s and that’s why I’m taking them.  I’ll probably regret it, the Saints play well at home, but they haven’t been impressing me.  GB is coming off a big beatdown of Chicago so I’d say they’re playing at a higher level.

There you have it.  I’m sure I won’t do as well as I did last week and I took a chance or two, but we’ll see how it all plays out!

Last Week:  13.5-2.5

Season Record:  101.5-57.5

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Week 11 NFL Notes

Welcome to Week 11 in the NFL.  Not a lot surprising happened today, although we did have our first tie game of the year.  We also have our first tie Douchetard Award, which I will address at the end of this blog.  It works nicely with our tie game, so that should give you a hint where we’re headed, but read on to see!

• Welcome back to the NFL, Kyle Orton, perhaps you’d like to go back on the bench after today’s stinkfest in Green Bay.  Orton had a mediocre day, throwing for 133 yards but no tds or ints.  He did have a fumble that was returned 54 yards for a TD though.  Ryan Grant remembered how to run, the O-line in Green Bay remembered how to block and the rout was on.  37-3.  What happened to the Bears run defense?
• Now that’s my Manning!  Peyton threw for 320 yards, two td’s and no picks today and looked like the guy I’ve been waiting to see all year.  Now, mind you, it was against Houston’s D, which doesn’t mean a lot, but still, good is good and it’s nice to see Indy winning again.  Maybe some things will start to make sense in this league after all.  Indy’s defense still leaves a lot to be desired, but if the offense can get rolling they could make some noise again.
• Props to our fave, Sage Rosenfels, for only throwing one pick today.  He is not in contention for the DT Award this week, so that should make him happy.  So should something else you’ll see later!
• The Falcons fell back to reality a bit this week, getting their first loss of the year at home against Denver.  Cutler had a good game, 19 for 27 for 216 yards and TD.  Matt Ryan had the stats, 20 of 33 for 250 yards but threw a pick.  The Falcons had the lead but Denver drove and scored the winning TD with 5:35 left.
• Miami held on by the skin of it’s teeth to beat Oakland at home today, kicking the winning field goal with 38 seconds left to win 17-15.  Oakland briefly took the lead on them with a 93 yard punt return but Pennington led his team down the field to get the win.  I don’t know how in the hell the Fins keep doing it but doing it they are.  Next week they get the Pats again, who need a win and will be hungry for a little retribution after this season’s earlier beatdown.
• Quite the ending to the Pittsburgh/San Diego game.  Pitt hits the game leading field goal, 11-10 and SD has 5 seconds left to try to score.  They lateral a few times and Troy Polamalu gets the ball and rushes for the TD.  The refs took that away due to an illegal forward pass by San Diego, so the game was 11-10 final.  Wacky.  Pitt battled out a last second win and being last weeks Douchetard obviously lit a fire under Big Ben, as he went 31 of 41 for 308 yards.  You’re welcome, Ben, I’ll take the credit.
• So much for my prediction of a low scoring defensive battle in the Baltimore/Giants game.  30-10?  Not so much!  The Giants ran for 207 yards against the vaunted Raven defense and Joe Flacco looked like the rookie he is against the Giants pass rush.  He threw a pick 6 and another interception.  Neither quarterback threw for a lot of yards, 164 for Flacco and 153 for Eli, but the running game made the difference for the Giants, and they continue to impress.
• My Bucs continue to be offensively challenged when they get within the red zone, coming away with only one touchdown yet again.  But it was enough, as the defense rallied in the second half, not giving up a point after allowing 13 in the first half.  Garcia was great today, throwing for 255 yards and no picks, moving around in the pocket and keeping the ball alive when most QBs would go down.  The defense checked in with 5 sacks and a crucial turnover after a missed Bryant field goal gave Minny some potential life down by 6 late in the game, and held Peterson to only 85 yards rushing, which didn’t look possible after the first half.
• The dream is still alive!!! I was a little nervous earlier in the day when Detroit was leading Carolina, but I knew better than to think the Lions would pull it out.  Which is a shame really, cause I could get over the disappointment of losing my Ofer if the Panthers got a loss.  It’s all about the Bucs for me, you know!  Culpepper threw a pick 6 and had a crucial fumble late in the game as they were driving for a potential tying score.  He was heavily in contention for Douchetard but being on the Lions allows for a little handicap.  Plus I had a couple better contenders, so there you go.
• San Fran managed to chalk up 28 points on the hapless Rams during one quarter and the game was never in doubt from then on.  Even though they’ve managed two wins to the Lions 0, I do feel that the Rams might very well be the worst team in the league.  Getting beaten down by the 9ers doesn’t speak overly well for you and I feel if they went head to head, Detroit would win.  I have no proof of this, but the Rams really do suck.
• MVP front runner, Kurt Warner, checked in with another big day; 32 of 44 for 395 yards.  Boldin and Fitzgerald were their stellar selves and Arrington got a couple touchdowns.  Seattle closed a bit but 3 Hasselbeck picks were too much to overcome.  Arizona might have their division locked up already…got the west sucks.  But Zona is impressive and that offensive will keep things interesting in the playoffs.
• I finally got to see the Titans play today and came away very impressed.  They were actually pretty dominated in the first half of their game and I was kicking myself for picking them, but they scored two quick touchdowns in the second half to take the lead and never gave it up.  That defensive line is very impressive to watch, constantly in the backfield.  Gerrard was uncomfortable all day and completed only 13 of 30 passes for 135 yards and a pick.  Tenn’s running game wasn’t the force it has been, but their two backs combined for over 100 yards and Collins threw for 230 with 3 TD’s.  The undefeated team rolls on.
• And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for.  I have a couple of revelations for you with this week’s Douchetard Award.  By popular demand (ok, so it was two people, but that’s good enough), the Douchetard Award will now be named The Sage Rosenfels Memorial Douchetard Award, in honor of our inaugural winner, the immortal Sage Rosenfels, who is the only player who has been in contention pretty much since the award started, which is impressive when you think about the fact that he’s only a backup QB.  Thanks for being injured, Schaub, you’ve inspired a nation.  Or…well…a few blog readers.  Be proud!  And, if that weren’t enough excitement, we have two winners this week.  Two players stepped up and snatched away a victory for their teams.  Now they didn’t end up losing, but they didn’t win either.  You may have guessed them by now.  Donovan McNabb and Shane Graham are this weeks Douchetards!  McNabb kicked in with 3 picks and a fumble, plus an almost pick in overtime.  Shane Graham managed to miss a 47 yard field goal at the end of overtime that would have won the game for woeful Cincy.  Congratulations, Donovan and Shane, you are this weeks Dual Memorial Sage Rosenfels Douchetards of the Week!

That’s about it for the majority of the games.  I’ve only lost 2 and a half games this week (hey I get partial credit for the stupid Cincy/Philly tie) so I’m liking the way things are going.  I’ll be back on Wednesday with this weeks picks, until then, enjoy the last two games of the week.

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Week 11 NFL Picks

I’m coming off my best week yet, 11-3 and had the Packers hit their 52 yard field goal, it’d have been even better.  I think I might be starting to understand this crazy season…which inevitably means I’ll be sub-.500 this week.  Hubris will be punished by the NFL gods!  Well, we’ll give it our best shot anyway.

New England over NY Jets: I’ll be honest, this first pick scares me.  I’m going with NE because they’re at home and Cassel seems to play well there.  The loss of Thomas on defense has me a bit worried, but the Pats usually manage to win despite half their defense qualifying for the AARP.  I’m counting on Favre to throw two killer picks and that to be the deciding factor in the game.

Atlanta over Denver: I truly give up on this Atlanta thing.  I thought I had them figured out, win against crappy teams, lose to decent ones, but then they killed the Saints last week.  Not that the Saints qualify for decent really, but I figured Brees could outgun them.  They’re 4-0 at home and Denver has been pretty bad this season, so I’ll give it to the Falcons.  Matt Ryan, ROY.

Philly over Cincy: Alas, Cincy won’t be able to add to their win total…I heard rumblings that they were hoping to sweep and end up 8-8 on the season.  I can’t even type that without collapsing into fits of giggles.  Oh Bengals, you slay me.  Philly’s coming off a hard loss against the Giants and they will want to make a statement here.

Green Bay over Chicago: Toss up game for me here, the Bears played the Titans tight last week and shut down their running game. GB’s running game has been nothing to speak of so they’ll have to pass here anyway.  I figure that Grossman will be Grossman and thus I’m going for GB.  When in doubt, pick the better QB, that’s my motto.

Indy over Houston: Has the real Peyton Manning reappeared?  Though they should have lost the game against the Steelers (and again, another game I just missed, could have been 13-1, sigh), Peyton looked good pretty much the whole game.  Harrison missed out on some catches that he made in past years, the timing is still a bit off, but the rest of the offense is warming up.  Houston is QBed by the immortal Sage Rosenfels…Manning or Rosenfels?  Tough one!  Manning it is, in a landslide.

New Orleans over Kansas City: Poor KC, two weeks in a row with heartbreaking losses.  Faux MVP Drew Brees should have a field day against that defense so I don’t think this game will be close.  Of course, the Saints D could prove me wrong.  Drew should light it up this week, but he’s out of the MVP race due to his team sucking thoroughly and Kurt Warner forgetting that he’s 8 years older than he was the last time he played this well.

Miami over Oakland: Dear lord, my nearly Ofer team last year is going to be 6-4 after today.  Amazing turnaround.  Sparano should be a big time candidate for coach of the year.  Meanwhile, Al Davis will be scanning the stands for his next head coach.  Get your resumes updated Miami residents, you could be the next Raiders coach!

NY Giants over Baltimore: Ooooooh.  That’s the sound I made when I saw this game.  Hard hitting? Check!  Turnover city?  Probably check!  The return of the Eli Manning face (TM Bill Simmons)?  Check!  Seriously this one will be a slobberknocker of a game, to borrow a phrase from one of those old guys like Madden.  I’m going to go with the Giants D to throw some stuff at Flacco he’s unprepared for and cause turnovers.  Should be close though.

Tampa Bay over Minnesota: Why did I think we played the Lions this week?  Is that next week?  What is going on with me?  Why didn’t anyone tell me?  Sigh.  Anyway, I’ll pick the Bucs over Frerotte any day.  AD scares me a bit but the Bucs D has been mostly effective against the run (minus the KC game) and they had a whole week of rest to rejuvinate.  I’m guessing 3 picks from old Gus in this game.

Carolina over Detroit: Oh, Carolina gets to beat Detroit this week.  Well bully for them.  Jake Delhomme is coming off a terrible showing against Oakland, but a win’s a win.  I don’t imagine this game will be very challenging for him.  Will Culpepper get the start again this week?  Hensen seems to give them a better chance, so of course they’ll go with Dante.  The dream should still be alive!

San Francisco over St. Louis: Alright, San Fran should have beaten Arizona on Monday night and things do seme to be getting better.  If Martz can just figure out how to run the right play at the end of the game, they should win.  The Rams are already studying the tapes of the college players, so winning doesn’t benefit them any at this point.  Singletary gets his first, of hopefully many cause he’s awesome, wins.

Arizona over Seattle: I think I might have seen something about Hasselbeck returning, but I could have made that up just like I made up the Lions playing the Bucs this week.  Nope, I didn’t imagine it.  I think they might get some WR’s back this week too, but it’s too little too late at this point.  I’m starting to believe in Arizona, in the sense that I think they will win their division but nothing else, so they’re my pick this week.

Tennessee over Jacksonville: Hmmm I am very torn on this one, I could see Jax pulling it out, but they’re such a disappointment this year.  Tenn isn’t going to go 16-0 (are they?) but Jax’s offensive line is not good and Tenn’s is.  Should be low scoring but I’ll take the Titans to roll to 10-0.

Pittsburgh over San Diego: This could go either way depending on Ben’s shoulder, but SD has underachieved all year and there’s no reason to think they will get out of their funk at this point in the season.  They could have lost to KC last week, so I don’t give them much of a chance in Pitt, hurt Ben or not.

Dallas over Washington: The return of Romo!!!  Aren’t ya’ll just beside yourselves with excitement?  Aren’t you certain that now Dallas will be in the Super Bowl?  Not so much, eh?  Me either, but the I hear Portis is pretty hurt at this point and without him I don’t see Washington winning.  It’d be nice if they finally showed me a good game again though.  I’m giving the Romo’s this week, but I don’t think the ship is righted.

Cleveland over Buffalo: Let’s face it, the shine is off the Bills at this point.  They’ve lost 3 in a row to division opponents and haven’t looked the same since Edward’s got his concussion.  The Browns have some hope now that Brady Quinn is behind center and they were playing with new life, up until that last Braylon Edwards drop against Denver.  And fantasy football owners everywhere how with rage and shake their fists toward the sky.  Braylon Edwards, this years fantasy killer.

That’s the picks for this week folks, let’s hope we get some more great games, and that Detroit continues to lose.  Give me something!

Last Week:  11-3

Season Record:  88-55

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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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