Tag: sports

Look, I was right

First, I’ll gloat for a minute because I went 8-3 picking winners, and the Colts even covered like I said they would.  Rex Grossman played badly, but it was the Bears defense that really disappointed.  They gave up 190 yards on the ground to Rhodes and Addai.  You don’t win Super Bowls giving up that kind of yardage on the ground.

Then, I’ll complain that Peyton didn’t deserve the MVP.  True, no one had a really standout game, and typically when that happens they give the MVP to the quarterback of the winning team.  But I would say the Colts offensive line deserved it more than Peyton, and I would say that Addai, with 10 catches on top of 77 yards rushing, deserved it more than Peyton.  But I don’t expect the NFL to actually give the MVP to someone who deserved it.  Everyone was expecting all week that Peyton would get it, and they couldn’t go back on that.

I’ll also complain that the commercials were terrible.  CareerBuilder should go back to the monkeys instead of this Lost/Braveheart mistake they offered up yesterday.  I think Ford made a dumb move pushing their new Super Duty behemoth pickup just as GM is bringing hybrids to the market, although maybe they were just trying to fight off the challenge from Toyota and keep sales of the F-150 ahead of the Tundra, which is probably a losing battle at this point.

And I will finish by complimenting Prince on a nice performance.  I don’t know who the woman in white was, and she was weird, but she didn’t ruin it.  Covering the Foo Fighters was surprisingly cool, and I wish I could pull off the outfit Prince was wearing.

Super Bowl Sunday

Today is the big day. When people all over the country gather together in living rooms and sports bars (but not churches) to watch the best commercials advertisers have to offer, and maybe a football game.

If I were a betting man, and I’m not, except at the craps table, I would take the Colts to cover. The spread is 7 last I checked, and I think the Colts will win by that much. I’m 7-3 picking winners so far in the playoffs, which means maybe I should be betting on the games. But those picks have been ignoring the spread.

In any event, I’m hoping that Peyton finally wins a Super Bowl so we can stop talking about how he hasn’t won a Super Bowl. And I’m hoping the Bears get pounded, because I’ve been telling everyone all season that they aren’t very good, and they’re running out of time to prove me right. Yes, I realize they made the Super Bowl. But who did they beat? No one. The whole NFC sucks.

So, we’re going to a Super Bowl party at the home of frequent reader and commenter gayleforcewinds, who remains the only girl , along with her sister, are the only girls I know who don’t live with a guy, yet own a big-screen HDTV. We went to her party last year, too, and I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully it will be a good game, too.

Bonds is a druggie, CEO of MLB players association a liar

SI.com – MLB – Caught speeding – Thursday January 11, 2007 3:09AM

“I can say unequivocally in my 22 years I’ve known Barry Bonds he has never blamed anyone for anything.”

So says Gene Orza.  A quick Google search for “barry bonds blame” turns up this:

“I’m tired of my kids crying. You wanted me to jump off a bridge, I finally did,” Bonds told reporters Tuesday, shortly after returning to training camp. “You finally brought me and my family down. … So now go pick a different person.”

So, maybe Orza was exaggerating a little.  Why do people make statements like that when they must know them to be false?

Anyway, Bonds is a jerk.  I don’t care how many home runs he hits or what his career stats look like when he finally retires.  He has made himself the poster child of everything that’s wrong with Major League Baseball.  It would make me very happy if he doesn’t break Hank Aaron’s record because he’s in jail for perjury.  That would be too awesome.

Nice job, Cal

Baltimore Orioles : News : Baltimore Orioles News

“He proved that a tall man could play shortstop, enabling players like Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez to follow.”

Cal Ripken was just inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first time he was on the ballot, with the third highest vote percentage ever.  Growing up in Maryland, following the Orioles ever since I was ten, it was a long time before I saw a live baseball game that he didn’t play in.  Well, not including my rec league games.  He got an honorary degree when my sister graduated from Johns Hopkins, and I walked past him at Preakness last summer.

I still remember coming home from work on September 6th, 1995, and watching him do his victory lap as he broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak.  I hadn’t really realized how much of a big deal it was until I saw that on tv.

I know that the exploits of a man who played a game for a living are pretty unimportant in a lot of ways, but in some other ways, they make a big difference to a lot of people.  There’s nothing quite like sitting in the bleachers on a sunny day, throwing peanut shells on the ground and watching a baseball game.  It doesn’t match the intensity of a lot of other sports, but there’s some magic there (I know, I’m being a little cheesy, sue me).

So, congratulations to Cal, and to also-deserving Tony Gwynn.

Awesome playoff scenario

NFL.com – NFL News

**Packers clinch strength of victory tiebreaker over NY Giants if all of the following occur: ARI win, DET win, MIA win, MIN win, SF win, CAR loss, HOU loss, TB loss.

Because the Redskins and the worst defensive coordinator ever, Gregg Williams, couldn’t even begin to stop Tiki Barber and the Giants (He had TWO 50+ yard touchdown runs.  TWO!), Green Bay has a very slim chance to make the playoffs.  Eight games need to have exactly the right outcomes, or else the Giants go to the playoffs.  I think this could be the coolest playoff scenario ever.  Except that it will probably end up with the Giants going to the playoffs, and I hate the Giants.

The Redskins, on the other hand, should be embarrassed.  The Giants had lost six of seven games, were without one of their best defensive players (Michael Strahan), one of their best offensive players (Jeremy Shockey), and, for all intents and purposes, based on how he’s been playing, without their quarterback (Eli “The Whiner” Manning).

And the Redskins let the Giants come into their house and run for 250 yards.  Joe Gibbs is a Hall of Fame coach.  But that man on the sidelines is not Joe Gibbs.  I think a brain-sucking parasite had taken over his body and delegated all playcalling to a Ouija board run by a couple of chimpanzees who don’t even watch the games.

On behalf of the Redskins, I’d like to apologize to the NFC teams who had a shot at the playoffs if the Giants lost.  We let you down, and we’re sorry.

And to the Giants:  I can’t wait until you get knocked out of the playoffs in a three-touchdown loss to someone.  Have fun!

Worst tunnel ever

Yesterday, we finished our flag football season, finally.  I had the pleasure of taking not one but two members of the team to the GW emergency room.  In the first game, on the last play, they had 4th and goal, eight seconds to go.  The play before, my wife had been bumped in the head, and she was a little ticked off.  They snap the ball as she’s leaning over the line, ready to rip someone’s head off.  She pressures the quarterback, he throws it up, we knock it down, and we have our second win of the season, 12-7, over the 4th seed in the playoffs.  Our only other win was against a team playing short a player because they only had two girls, and you need three on the field at all times.

So, in our celebration, we didn’t notice at first that my wife was on the ground.  Did any of you see Carson Palmer in the playoffs last year, when he got hit on the side of his leg and tore up his knee?  Well, that’s what happened here.  It doesn’t look like it will be that bad.  She’s on the couch icing it right now, and we’ll go to an orthopedist later this week if it doesn’t get better.

She was sitting on the sideline, elevating her knee, as we played our second game (Rescheduled due to rainout), and it didn’t go so well.  They went up 7-0 pretty quickly.  On the ensuing kickoff, “Picnic” got run over by this gigantic meathead.  You know the type of guy who comes to a game when it’s 27 degrees out in shorts, with the sleeves ripped off his shirt, with “MAXIMUS” or something written on his arms?  Wearing a leather rugby helmet?  Yeah, that kind of guy.  The one who is way too intense for co-ed flag football.  Anyway, he ran into Picnic on the kickoff, and Picnic came off the field.  He had his hat pulled down to his brow, but there was a little blood on his forehead.  I mentioned this to him, and he took his hat off, revealing an inch long cut about an inch above his eye.

So, I took Picnic and the wife to GW, where he got ten stitches, and they determined that my wife hadn’t broken her leg or torn anything major.

Then we went to NYC to visit some friends.  We’d been planning this for months, and didn’t want to let a little injury get in the way.  But we left hours later than we meant to, and hit the Holland Tunnel just as everyone going out in Manhattan on a Saturday night got there.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  The four lanes in the middle are EasyPass only at the toll, while the two on the right and two on the left are cash.  I was in the second from the right, and the EasyPass lanes are moving much better than the cash lanes, obviously.  So everyone wants to drive down the EasyPass lanes and then cut in in front of me.  I played chicken with a big black Nissan Titan for about 50 yards before he finally backed off.  It was extremely satisfying.  I was less than six inches from him most of the time as he tried to nose his way into my lane and I wouldn’t let him.  I hate people who do that.  Traffic sucks, we all have to sit in it, and you’re making things worse.  But I didn’t let anyone in.  Ordinarily, if people are being polite, I’m happy to do it.  But not when they’re sprinting to the end of the line and then trying to cut in at the front.

Anyway, it was an adventure.  The weekend was fun.  I got to see some of the holiday decorations in Times Square and all that.  I love NYC.  I didn’t think I would until I visited earlier this year.  I’ve been three times now, and I’ll definitely go back, especially since we have a friend in Chelsea who happily gives up her apartment and stays with her boyfriend when we come visit.

Dude clearly needs to get his priorities straight

Uni Watch » White Glove Treatment

Uni Watch is a weirdly fascinating daily blog that obsesses over quirks in professional and college sports uniforms.  I don’t know why, but after Mo pointed it out to me, I read it almost every day.  Today’s was particularly funny.

I know, as an announcer, it must be hard to come up with interesting banter when nothing interesting is happening on the field.  But I think they can try harder than this.

And football is back

NFL.com – Miami at Pittsburgh Game Recap

After the World Cup and watching a little Australian Rules over in Melbourne, the game seemed a little slow, but it feels really good to have football back on tv.  The Orioles are all but eliminated, so it’s time for a little Redskins action.  I watched the first half of Miami-Pittsburgh last night, mostly to make sure my dogg Hines Ward got in the end zone for my fantasy team, which he did.

I think I’m going to finally bite the bullet and invest in High Def cable.  After the third time I thought the Dolphins had faked the punt snap because I didn’t see the ball, I’d really had enough.  My only problem is that I already send over $100 to Cox Cable for tv and internet, and I hesitate to send them any more.  I mean, their service isn’t really that good.  But I can’t take it any longer.  Until Verizon gets around to offering their fiber tv/internet service in my area, Cox will continue their localized monopoly and have zero incentive to provide me with better service.

Put a what on you?

Baltimore Orioles : News : Baltimore Orioles News

No matter how many runs you get, you feel like they can come back and put a [hurt] on you like they did the first night.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t you usually use the word in brackets to add or replace words that are a little out of context?  For example, replacing a pronoun with the specific noun if you’ve chosen not to quote the previous sentence where the pronoun was defined.

What the heck is this [hurt] replacing?  Was there some even more obscure slang word there?  Profanity?  Did Sam Perlozzo, Orioles’ manager and the quoted, make hand gestures?  We’ll probably never know.

Also, allowing 5 hits and no runs in 5 2/3 innings is not a “gem”, as the article states.  It’s a solid start, but in my book, a “gem” is at least 7 full innings, and most of those innings better not contain any hits.