Tag: NFL (Page 10 of 10)

NFL Playoffs

January 12, 2004 / DB

What an incredibly enjoying weekend of football (unless your team lost). Has there ever been a better four pack of games in NFL history (unless your team lost)? Parity in the NFL may suck in a lot of ways, but it certainly makes for good playoffs. Every single game had twists and turns, glaring coaching errors, amazing changes in momentum, and plays that fans of every team will be talking about for years. I don’t particularly like Carolina or St. Louis, but my palms were plenty sweaty during overtime of that game. My stomach turned when I was 20 seconds late switching back from whatever else I was watching and missed the winning touchdown. “What the hell happened?!?” The final five minutes of the New England – Tennessee game were almost too much to take. Every play, it seemed, was either more Patriot post-season magic, or just another obstacle for Steve McNair to somehow overcome. You didn’t know which it would be, but everything was setting up so that after the game, the writers had plenty of material. How Drew Bennett dropped the fourth down pass after making two sick catches earlier in the drive I’ll never know. Terrific drama to say the least. Missed field goals, fourth and 26, unbelievable penalties, amazing catches. You can’t ask for anything more from four games (unless your team lost).

Being super busy last week, I wasn’t able to go into depth about the Indy perspective on the epic Colts-Chiefs clash. Even though I work from home, I got plenty of questions about whether I was ready to “take a beating” from people who assumed I was a Chiefs fan. The look on their faces when I told them I had never been a Chiefs fan might have been more fun than if I actually was a Chiefs fan and had given them something back. The best call came during the game, “Hey, D., are you having a hard time knowing who to cheer for? Go Chiefs? Go Colts? Oh…..Mark just told me you’re not a Chiefs fan. Never mind then.” That’s certainly still the case, but I’ve not turned into a rabid Colts fan, either. I figure if I lived in Kansas City for 23 years without becoming a Chiefs fan, it made no sense for me to buy an I Believe in Blue shirt, or get a Touchdown Monkey doll (Although it is hard to resist the allure of the pigskin primate).

Nonetheless, I was pleased with the match up. That meant a week of coverage from the Plaza and references to barbecue on the local news. Lots of features on interesting things to do in KC (more barbecue, Jazz Hall of Fame, Negro Leagues HoF, references to the loss of the NCAA). Interviews with men and women on the street in KC. And despite my lack of fondness for the Chiefs organization, there is a certain level of pride that comes from all the coverage of how amazing an environment Arrowhead is on game days. I may not like the Camaroheads, but they were my neighbors and coworkers.

I’m pleased to report that Indy fan behaved in a manner similar to Chiefs fan over the past week. There was a promotion Thursday at the RCA Dome that basically shut down half of downtown for a couple hours. Someone was handing out free posters and blue ribbons. The catch was it was a drive-through event. You drive up to the Dome, people hand the items directly to you in your auto, and you drive away. People spent as long as two hours in line to get an ugly poster and a piece of cheap ribbon. The wind chill was around 0 all day Thursday. So that means people drove from all over the city, sat in line with their heaters blasting, and wasted gas for 90 minutes. All for some free cardboard. I would imagine had I gone to a bar yesterday, there would have been people who took their free posters with them. “Gotta support the team.” It’s amazing what some people will do. Like Peyton Manning would think of all the great Colts fans back in Indy who say in line for hours and were sitting at home, waiving their posters while he was calling an audible.

Speaking of supporting the team, what’s with these people who take the little hand puppets to games? I know every person has their own way of expressing their support for their favorite teams, but who the hell decided that taking a puppet to a game would help? And why did other people have the same idea?

The game itself was more like a college game than a professional game. You just don’t see playoff games with a complete lack of defense from either team. Peyton Manning has been nothing short of phenomenal the last two weeks. I liked him in college, and enjoyed the way he’s played in the NFL, so I think it’s cool he’s finally having some success in the post-season. I’ve never liked Dick Vermeil (remember, he was the Eagles coach back in the day, including the 1981 NFC Championship game against Dallas. Yes, I cried when the Eagles won.) so I was pleased that his team lost.

Indy is in a state of delirious disbelief today. I think a lot of people expected the Colts to win this week. It’s the way they won that has people amazed. There’s the realization that the team is 60 minutes from the Super Bowl. Jim Harbaugh’s bunch of rag-tags that made it within a Hail Mary of the Super Bowl in ’96 were different. They were Cinderella, full of good karma and happy-go-lucky players. This year’s team can clearly win it all based on talent, not luck. People were reserved about this team all season (witness the three games that weren’t sold out early enough for local TV coverage earlier in the season). Most cities would concentrate on the come back against New England. Local fans seemed to take it as a sign the Colts were, once again, just not good enough. The near loss in Houston was another sign, rather than a playoff bound team taking it easy late in the season. Suddenly, people believe.

Philly will beat Carolina in a close, ugly game. Fox would be better suited reairing this week’s games. I’m struggling with the AFC game. I have a hard time believing anyone is going to beat New England at home. EVERY thing goes their way at home. But can you pick against Peyton now? If it comes down to a field goal, Mike Vanderjagt is Gary Anderson waiting to happen, while Adam Vinatieri is dead clutch. This one warrants more deliberation.

D’s Notes

January 5, 2004 / DB

That ended up being some exciting ending to the Sugar Bowl. And yes, I stayed up until 2:00 waiting for the final AP poll. Not on purpose, mind you. It just kind of happened that way.

Brent Musberger is an awful, awful announcer. He drives me batty every fall doing games. He’s so judgmental in his analysis of college players. He predicts things that won’t ever happen. He gets excited about things that have no bearing on the game (“Now wait a minute, LSU players say they have the ball!” after the officials already gave possession to OU. Like LSU players have veto power or something.) ABC somehow continues to think he’s best suited to do the marquee game of the season each January. CBS wised up and booted his ass during the 1990 Final Four (not that Jim Nantz is particularly dynamic or knowledgeable). Why can’t ABC do the same?

I forgot to post my NFL playoff predictions before we left. I picked Tennessee to beat Baltimore in a tight game, possibly on a last minute field goal. I thought Carolina would roll over my Cowboys. I thought Green Bay would win a nail biter against Seattle, possibly on special teams or a turnover. And I expected the Colts to just destroy Denver. Honest, that’s exactly what I typed Wednesday.

OK, seriously, I like the Colts to beat the Chiefs in an extremely tight game. Both teams have balanced offenses, with the Chiefs running better and the Colts passing better. But the Chiefs problems on defense will be too much to overcome, where the Colts defense is really humming right now. I like New England to win a surprisingly easy game over Tennessee. Rams win big over Carolina. And the Packers pull a shocker in Philly. Two upsets!

There are a lot of cool things in the NFL. The anticipation when Dante Hall gathers in a punt. Peyton Manning throwing a laser beam to Marvin Harrison. Ray Lewis chasing someone down. Knowing Tom Brady will find a way to win. Steve McNair. But nothing is cooler than Bret Favre running around in celebration after a win.

My picture with the rules for our cabin in French Lick turned out nicely. Here’s how we were instructed to operate our furnace. All grammatical errors are the responsibility of our hostess.

Your Furnace
If you want your furnace to keep you warm follow these suggestion’s!
1. Cabin will be comfortable when you arrive. Please keep door’s closed as soon as possible.
2. DO’NOT open window’s!
3. Keep register’s free from clothing, baggage, blanket’s, chairs, tables, etc. This is your furnace vent’s!
4. Keep inside door’s open for complete circulation as much as possible!
5. Adjust thermostat only few degrees at a time or unit will SHUT DOWN!!!

Isn’t it amazing I got any sleep with all that material? Sentence #3 is especially inspiring, using both correct and incorrect plural forms. I’m amazed the words circulation and thermostat were spelled correctly. And was she a weather girl in a past life? What’s the deal with all the exclamation points? This could be a long, lost relative of Gary Lezak we were dealing with.

Have you seen this low-carb Angus burger at Hardee’s? Have you seen this? A burger with onions, tomato, cheese wrapped in lettuce. I understand the Atkins Diet works for some and thus is quite popular. But I love the fact someone was sitting in a Hardee’s and thought, “We could pull the bun off and market our crappy burger as low carb!” Brilliant!

Speaking of low carb, I enjoyed a Queso Burrito at Qdoba Saturday. Rice, beans, chicken, and a three-cheese sauce all wrapped in a big, fat tortilla. I could probably have run a couple marathons on all the carbs that sucker had. It’s nice to not have to worry about that.

NFL Midseason

November 4, 2003 / DB

Nothing like an exciting MNF game that keeps you up until 12:30 AM. Come on, Tagliabue, start games at 8:00 Eastern! Seems like a good time to revisit my NFL picks from September.

NFC East – Preseason pick: New York Giants. The Cowboys will not win this division. They make too many mistakes and I don’t trust Quincy Carter. They will, however, be in the playoffs. The Eagles are getting hot, Donovan McNabb is getting healthy, and Philly will win the East.
NFC North – Preseason pick: Minnesota Vikings. Sure, they’ve lost two in a row. Sure, there was Favre magic in the air Sunday night. But when you have Culpepper and Moss and get to beat up on Chicago and Detroit, you still win your division.
NFC South – Preseason pick: Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When I wrote my first draft of this last week, I said the Bucs would still be dangerous in the playoffs. Hell, I don’t know if they even make the playoffs now. Carolina will win this division.
NFC West – Preseason pick: St. Louis Rams. Seattle will not win this division. Take it to Vegas and book it. Marshall Faulk is set to come back soon, and Kurt Warner is always on the bench if Marc Bulger gets into any serious trouble. The Rams are about to heat up. Dale Smith is about to get very happy.

AFC East – Preseason pick Miami Dolphins. New England is 7-2 after their disastrous Week 1 and despite an epidemic of injuries. They have a little of that magic they had two years ago. Miami should catch them, but not if Ricky Williams keeps getting shut down in big games. Pats squeak this one out.
AFC North – Preseason pick: Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bucs of the AFC, a serious Whoops! Kyle Boller seems to be getting more comfortable and Jamal Lewis is the most explosive grind-it-out back in the league. I think the Ravens win it.
AFC South – Preseason pick: Tennessee Titans. The Colts ran out to an early lead, but still have to go to Nashville. There’s something about the Colts defense that makes me think they’ll implode (an inability or unwillingness to tackle, perhaps), no matter how brilliantly Peyton Manning continues to play. Titans are still the pick.
AFC West – Preseason pick: Kansas City Chiefs. I never thought they’d be this good. Start the countdown to 16-0, because no one in the West should beat this team. I think they’ll end up going 14-2. They’ll lose one silly game they shouldn’t, then to Minnesota.

Preseason pick: Tampa over Tennessee in the Super Bowl.
Today’s pick: Tennessee pulls a shocker in a classic AFC Championship game in Arrowhead. It will be cold and wet in KC. Priest Holmes will be brilliant. Trent Green will make some mistakes, Steve McNair will not. Green throws a late interception, and the Titans move on to face the Rams, who charge easily through the NFC playoffs. This time, the Titans get those last three feet and win 28-27.

Moment of the First Half: Dante Hall’s punt return against Denver. There were 27 clips on the play, but it still counts. Late in the game, with everyone expecting you to make something happen, and you break off one of the classic returns in the history of the game. Put this one in a time capsule, as Joe Franklin would say.

Goat of the First Half: Rush Limbaugh. I wrote four paragraphs on why he’s an idiot, and why his apologists (on this issue at least) are dead wrong. Not worth mentioning, it’s time for us to all just move on.

Surprise (good) of the first half: Kansas City and Dallas. The Chiefs were a classic 8-8 pick: some people loved them and saw 12-4, others hated them and saw a 6-10 team. Not even the 12-4 people could have expected this start. Arguably as impressive is Dallas’ fast start. Everyone knew the Chiefs had potential. The Cowboys’ potential was supposed to be in 2005.

Disappointment of the first half: Everyone in the AFC West other than Kansas City. Wasn’t this supposed to be the best division in the game? Oakland has completely fallen apart. Injuries are killing Denver, but New England is getting by with as many injuries. And in San Diego, Marty has resorted to using Doug Flutie. Just a brutal collapse by three teams.

Final thought: Parity continues to be the operative word in the NFL. The Chiefs could go 16-0, and I bet a lot of people wouldn’t be shocked if they lost their first playoff game. Indianapolis may go 14-2, but no one is going to call them a great team. And neither the Vikings nor Rams make you want to open up the history books. Teams have too many holes and are too reliant on a starting roster of 22, making injuries more disruptive than ever. Priest Holmes, Peyton Manning, or Randy Moss going down could completely reshape the playoff picture. I think parity is ultimately a good thing for the league (your team is one good draft, or a couple key free agents away from competing) but growing up in the age of dynasties makes me wish there was at least one dominant team to root for or against.

Good, Bad, and Ugly

October 27, 2003 / DB

Good: Marlins win in six. Josh Beckett is a freaking stud. His arm may fall off, he may succumb to all the temptations that will be available to him, or he just may have pitched the best he’ll ever pitch. But I love the fact his first postseason experience was much better that Roger Clemens’ first experience. I’m not sure why I’ve become obsessive about hating Clemens, but I have. Jeff Loria may be one of the worst owners in baseball, and a personification of all that’s wrong with the game, but he ain’t George Steinbrenner. Then again, King George may be good for baseball. If he spends $200 million next year to try to win again, the rest of the game may finally shape up and put some kind of measures in place to help give better opportunities to sign and keep players to the smaller clubs. More on this subject later. Why was George wearing thick, dark sunglasses for night games this week? Trying to hide his wildly dilated pupils from everyone?

Bad: Dallas loses to Tampa Bay convincingly. After the Bucs’ loss last week, this one was easy to call. Hopefully the Tuna gets the ‘Boys back in gear.

Ugly: I was at a friend’s house watching Purdue-Michigan Saturday. Clearly in an effort just to piss me off, ABC didn’t show the KU-K-State score until late in the Purdue game. As soon as I saw 42-6, I thought, “I hope Whittemore didn’t get hurt.” Sure enough… Now we’ll really see how good of a coach Mangino is. Texas A&M and Nebraska were legitimate reaches for wins if our defense showed up in those games. Now he has to keep the team’s attitude up through a tough three game stretch and hope they’re still in a position to play well when Iowa State comes to town. 6-6 still gets you to a bowl game in the Big 12, and even if it’s done with a fifth string QB, it’s a huge lift for the program.

It’s 35 in Indianapolis this morning. No snow, though. Hopefully you all remembered to change your clocks this weekend. That extra hour I have before football starts is brutal. It just begs you to get off your ass and do something, and you end up missing the first half of the early games. As the local NPR announcer said this morning, while the rest of the nation went back to Standard Time, we stayed on Twilight Zone Time.

Manic Monday

October 20, 2003 / DB

Yawn. Apparently the wife is tired of having withdrawal headaches when she doesn’t have caffeine, so she’s switched to the half-caffeine type of coffee. So here I am at 10:00 already breaking into the Diet Coke. Guess I’m addicted.

Basketball season arrived Friday night, yet I’m strangely still interested in football. The Dallas Cowboys are 5-1 and in first place in the NFC East. The Kansas Jayhawks are 5-2 and tied for first in the Big 12 North. Maybe the potential Cubs-Red Sox World Series wasn’t the sign of the apocalypse I should have been worried about. Dallas plays at Tampa Sunday, KU at Kansas State Saturday. We’ll have a much clearer picture of each team this time next week.

Sports Illustrated has some wacky stats on their college football section, and somehow list Texas Tech has averaging 74 points a game. They’re actually averaging a still impressive 47 ppg. I thought it ironic that if they really were scoring 74 points each Saturday, they would have a higher octane offense than Bobby Knight has each winter in Lubbock.

Speaking of basketball, I will attempt some kind of Big 8+4 coverage again this year. Being away from the area will affect my analysis a little, but I figure I can find time to read all the conference summaries, catch a couple games each week, and post something. All that will come on a separate site. I’m in the process of setting it up and will make an announcement when it’s available, as well as link to it on the right side.

Am I the only one who was shocked to hear Juan Pierre of the Florida Marlins accent be pure Cajun? I figured he was from the Dominican Republic, or with a last name like Pierre, maybe the rare MLB player from Haiti.

New Listening Post entry to come this afternoon (pending time to transfer it from hand writing to electronic).

Speaking Of

September 29, 2003 / DB

I was all prepared to write about the key to Saturday’s KU-MU game being the MU offensive line. On their two scoring drives, they looked like monsters, pushing the much smaller KU d-line around at will. Not sure if it was adjustments by KU, or failure to stick to what worked by MU, but that dominance wasn’t evident the rest of the game. Bill Whittemore was more able than Brad Smith to adjust to what the defense was giving him, and that pretty much was the game. I wonder if Kevin Kietzman will finally start giving Mark Mangino a little credit. That Northwestern game is really looking ugly now.

Dante Hall is playing like he’s in a video game.

I like it when Randy Moss is playing like he’s from another planet.

I walk off my plane in San Francisco last night, look at the TV, and see the Colts lead the Saints something like 40-12. Fifteen minutes later, when I’m pulling my Sunfire out of the rental garage at SFO, it’s 55-12. Then I hear Edgerrin James never played. Amazing. Did Tony Dungy miss the game too? Surely he wasn’t actually on the sideline for an offensive outburst like this.

Speaking of rental cars, since my company tries to keep expenses in check, we have to take the cheapest cars (unless you’re a high flying, board member assisting, revenue generator like Mike A.). In the old days, I’d walk up to the counter, they’d offer me a mid-sized car for an extra buck, and I jumped at it. Then I got upgraded to “preferred” status. For the pleasure of skipping the counter and walking directly to my car, I’ve now been driving nothing but Sunfires and Cavaliers for the past eight months. Luckily, I’ve yet to drive a red Cavalier.

Read three-quarters of Jonathan Franzen’s collection of essays How to Be Alone on the plane. I don’t care if he dissed Oprah, the dude can write.

I meant to comment on this back during the summer, but for some reason kept skipping over it. Do DJs at weddings not listen to the lyrics of the music they play? At one of our weddings this summer, during the dinner hour the DJ played “Every Breath You Take” and that Sheryl Crow – Kid Rock song in succession. First off, “EBYT” isn’t about romantic love. It’s about stalking someone who has pushed you away. Second, should a song that includes the lyric “I can’t think about you when I’m lying next to her” (or whatever it is) ever be played at anything that has to do with marriage? There is an endless supply of music to play at a wedding. If you’re going to play a song about infidelity or being a sick bastard, at least make it a dance song where the meaning gets lost behind the beat. (This is when you can chime in and tell me about inappropriate songs played at my wedding that I didn’t hear because I was too preoccupied.)

I watched about five minutes of Real Genius a week ago. Classic, brilliant mid-80s movie. Val Kilmer’s first big role. The inspired use of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” over the closing credits. Laslow Hollyfeld. Everything about this movie is good. I got sad while watching it, though. I remembered the time when each weekend meant watching an endless supply of Real Genius, Vacation, and Fletch. As you grow older, you get busier, sleep becomes more important, and perhaps you acquire a spouse along the way who isn’t into watching the same movies endlessly. I miss about 75% of the current movies, so I don’t even have time to think about watching Fletch once a month like I used to. Swingers is probably the last grown-up film I’ll watch 50+ times in my life. Of course, I’ll probably get to watch countless unnamed Disney films that many times in the next ten years.

Speaking of growing up, I was driving around last week and heard “Keep on Lovin’ You” by REO Speedwagon. Immediately made me think of a night in 1981 when my mom got me a sitter, and went out for the night. I spent the entire night in front of the stereo, with headphones on, flipping back and forth between KY-102 and Q-104 in Kansas City, trying to hear that song. I seriously spent five hours, not saying a word to the babysitter, staring at the dial as I flipped it back and forth. I don’t know if I ever heard the song, but I sure as hell tried. Fast-forward four years. I stayed up until 4:00 AM one Saturday night trying to hear “Axel F” from Beverly Hills Cop so I could tape it. Finally, when I was about to give up, I heard it, got my copy, and crashed. I think these two stories may explain some of my music obsessive behavior to those of you who don’t quite get it when I go on-and-on about some song or group I like.

Speaking of driving around, I have bought three tanks of gas for my truck since moving to Indianapolis. Another beauty of working at home. If you never drive it, I guess you can’t feel guilty about driving a gas-guzzling SUV.

Speaking of SUVs, why do environmentalists just whine about the lack of efficiency in them and not in sports cars? I hear over-and-over about how horrible for the environment SUVs are. I get at least five miles-per-gallon more in my SUV than my step-dad does in his Corvette. What about heavy Cadillacs that have V-8 engines? I have a mid-sized SUV with a V-6, get roughly 22 MPG. It’s not a great number, and I really wish it did better. If I had it to do over, I would get a smaller SUV that was in the upper 20s. But until you start calling out the cars that get equally poor or worse mileage, get off my back.

Dome

August 18, 2003 / DB

As I mentioned Friday, I’ve never been in a domed stadium. Nor have I ever been to an NFL preseason game. In fact, I haven’t been to an NFL game period in nine years. Courtesy of a friend who fell into some free tickets, I was able to attend the Colts-Seahawks game at the RCA Dome Friday night. Since I was paying exactly $0 of the $55 face value of the tickets, I was more than happy to tag along.

First, a couple notes from the place we ate dinner near the dome. A little hole in the wall called the Hard Times Café. It was next to Houlihan’s, S. Murray’s favorite barbecue place, so I figured it had to be good. It was decent, if unspectacular. What was spectacular was the guy standing between our table and the bar. He was doing the stand on one leg, place the other foot up on a barstool lean thing. White polo shirt, navy blue Dockers, white socks, white boat shoes. I couldn’t take my eyes off this guy’s socks, they were driving me crazy. These were plain tube socks, not some fancy, wanna-be stylish Ralph Lauren white socks. This guy was about 55, clearly old enough, in my opinion, to know how to dress himself. I imagine if it had been about 20 degrees cooler, the Member’s Only jacket would have come out for the night too. The only thing that could distract me was the flag above his head. Yep, I’ve finally seen a Texas Tech – IU flag. You’ve seen those flags that are half KU, half K-State, or whatever two local rivals so that married couples that attended both schools can be cute and put them up. I’ve marveled at the number of Texas Tech shirts and hats available at Galyan’s here, but now I can say I’ve seen it all. As I told the guys I was eating with, you’ll never see me with a KU-UNC flag. They readily agreed it was idiotic, but they’re both Purdue alums so what else would they say?

On to the dome. I pretty much got knocked on my ass as soon as I walked in. They had the pregame music cranked to about 21, forget about 11. It was so loud that you couldn’t hear the person right next to you talking. Ridiculous. I was seated in the upper deck, five rows up, around the ten yard line. Not bad seats, but I’ll be damned if they we worth $55. That probably explains why they dome was maybe 1/3 full. It was a tiny, tiny crowd. I will give the people who showed up this, though: they were loud when they had a chance. Seattle had a third and short on their first possession, and people we as frenzied as if it was a playoff game. The 18,000 or so who were there made it loud enough to again make conversations difficult. I can only imagine how loud it gets in there when the place is full. In fact, I’m not sure I’m interested in finding out.

All night I wondered where I would have sat if I had come to the 1991 Final Four. I tried to imagine sitting in these same seats and trying to watch basketball instead of football. I decided it was wise of me to stay in Lawrence that weekend. The Colts defense looked decent, forcing some turnovers, the offense took advantage, and it was 14-0 Indy at halftime. We were then treated to a show by those wacky Frisbee chasing dogs. Always interesting to watch. I also got to watch Seneca Wallace get chased around the field. I was a little disappointed the Indy corners didn’t have better hands, otherwise Seneca might have tossed three picks before we left.

Since it was a preseason game, we did get in for free, and I had a 6:30 tee time the next morning, we ducked out at halftime. It was impressive to see Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison in action. I enjoyed being in a dome for a while. I also enjoyed the one Mellencamp song per quarter quota there appeared to be. There’s apparently no distancing from local idols here. All in all it was a nice way to spend the night, certainly better than over at Victory Field as the Indians played a double header that lasted until 3:00 AM (Is there no curfew in minor league ball?). But, unless I’m offered free tickets again, I believe I’ll be saving my money for when the Celtics, Magic, Bulls, or Sonics come to Conseco next winter.