This week, the NY Jets edged the San Diego Chargers in the only close game of this week's playoffs, and subsequently was the only road team to get a win. This was partially due to a very aggressive Jets Defense, along with some good solid play late in the game on the offensive side of the ball, including a 53 yard TD run by the rookie out of Iowa, Shonn Greene. It didn't help San Diego that their star kicker, former Iowa Hawkeye, Nate Kaeding blew 3 field goal attempts over the course of the game. That's unheard of from such a great kicker like him.
The Indianapolis Colts simply outplayed the Baltimore Ravens. The New Orleans Saints just blasted the Arizona Cardinals 45-14, and after one really vicious hit, has Kurt Warner seriously thinking about retiring from the NFL before he gets killed.
Then you had the Minnesota Vikings and Brett Favre sealing the Dallas Cowboys fate of missing yet another Super Bowl. This game had my interest more than any of the others. Not that I'm a fan of either team. First I loathe the Dallas Cowboys with a passion you can't even comprehend. Then on the other side is Brett Favre... who I have loathed with the same ferocity, ever since his days with Green Bay. His 2 consecutive retirements and unretirements left me even less impressed with the guy.
However, I find myself today in the difficult position of having to defend Favre and The Minnesota Vikings team (the difficulty is in having to defend Favre, not the Vikings).
As time was winding down, and the Vikings held a more than comfortable 27-3 lead over the Cowboys, Dallas gave up the ball on downs in their own territory. A couple plays later, Favre throws his 4th touchdown pass of the game with just 1:55 remaining in the game.
This stoked some emotion from Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking, who called the move "classless", and Coach Wade Phillips accused the Vikings of running up the score.
"I thought it was classless," Brooking said. "I thought it was B.S. Granted, we get paid to stop them, but we had zero timeouts left. I didn't think there was any call for that."
I believe part one of his second sentence here pretty much sums up the problem. The Dallas defense is paid to stop the scoring. And not just paid, but paid far better for a single game than I'll make in a year. If you can't do it, quit whining. Suck it up and be a man. Besides that, the Cowboys whipped up on Philadelphia in the last game of the regular season and again last week in the first round of playoffs. No one was complaining then of a running up of the scores.
Ever since we were little, those of us who played football in school were told to play every play until the whistle blows, and every game until the last second has ticked off the clock at the end of the fourth quarter. The only way an offense scores is if the defense lets them. Dallas chose to let Minnesota into the end zone repeatedly. It isn't the Vikings fault for playing with the kind of intensity they are supposed to play with. And for Favre (I can't believe I'm touting him here..someone shoot me!), at the age of 40, throwing 4 TDs against a supposedly good team? That's just plain friggin incredible. The way the Vikings played yesterday showed that they deserve to be in the NFC Championship game next week. Dallas on the other hand, is just putting pressure on owner Jerry Jones to fire yet another head coach who couldn't get him to the Big Game.
Of course none of this should surprise me, the Dallas Cowboys always were a bunch of whiners. Not that Favre isn't a whiner as well, just not this week.
Showing posts with label brett favre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brett favre. Show all posts
Monday, January 18, 2010
Monday, November 2, 2009
Halloween Weekend- The good and the bad
So this Halloween brought a mixture of good and bad in a variety of areas. So, let's take a look at them.
College Football
Good: The Iowa Hawkeyes made an amazing comeback in the 4th quarter to win and maintain their perfect season, allowing them to stay at #4 in the BCS ratings
Bad: Oklahoma State couldn't take down the powerful Texas program, that would've allowed Iowa to move up, and whittle down potential national championship pairings.
NFL
Good: The Green Bay Packers lost (I've hated the team for years!)
Bad: Brett Favre won (I've hated him just as much as the Packers, his old team, for years)
Good: My 49ers broke Peyton Manning's streak of games in which he throws a touchdown pass
Bad: Indy still won, because their RUNNING BACK threw the go ahead/winning touchdown pass.
Work
Bad: I had to work a 12 hour shift. A 12 hour shift that was actually 13 hours long, because of the time changing back to standard time. I only get paid for 12.
Good: I didn't have a single disturbance or alarm to screw up my night the entire time, so it was a peaceful shift.
Trick-or-treating
Good: Kids went out for candy here on Friday night, and Sac City at my folks on Saturday night. I reap the rewards without the work, two times! Josh went as Darth Vader, Buggy as Storm Shadow from G.I. Joe (not sure about the kung fu grip on this occasion!)
Bad: No one around to amuse me on Saturday or Sunday. Realization that for the best treat-fare, I have to get access to the small town, and not just down the street.
Friends' Adoption Fundraising
Good: They raised some good cash towards their goal, along with help from friends and family. See here for more information on how that went.
Bad: No one showed up with an extra $5-10,000 to boost their efforts over the top. Oh well.
College Football
Good: The Iowa Hawkeyes made an amazing comeback in the 4th quarter to win and maintain their perfect season, allowing them to stay at #4 in the BCS ratings
Bad: Oklahoma State couldn't take down the powerful Texas program, that would've allowed Iowa to move up, and whittle down potential national championship pairings.
NFL
Good: The Green Bay Packers lost (I've hated the team for years!)
Bad: Brett Favre won (I've hated him just as much as the Packers, his old team, for years)
Good: My 49ers broke Peyton Manning's streak of games in which he throws a touchdown pass
Bad: Indy still won, because their RUNNING BACK threw the go ahead/winning touchdown pass.
Work
Bad: I had to work a 12 hour shift. A 12 hour shift that was actually 13 hours long, because of the time changing back to standard time. I only get paid for 12.
Good: I didn't have a single disturbance or alarm to screw up my night the entire time, so it was a peaceful shift.
Trick-or-treating
Good: Kids went out for candy here on Friday night, and Sac City at my folks on Saturday night. I reap the rewards without the work, two times! Josh went as Darth Vader, Buggy as Storm Shadow from G.I. Joe (not sure about the kung fu grip on this occasion!)
Bad: No one around to amuse me on Saturday or Sunday. Realization that for the best treat-fare, I have to get access to the small town, and not just down the street.
Friends' Adoption Fundraising
Good: They raised some good cash towards their goal, along with help from friends and family. See here for more information on how that went.
Bad: No one showed up with an extra $5-10,000 to boost their efforts over the top. Oh well.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Giving Brett the Finger and other observations...
Give Brett the Finger I thought, because of my hatred being openly expressed for Brett Favre, that this google ad on my page was really good, and inline with my thought process, then I read the rest of the little box:
Tell Brett what you think of him! Get a #4 Finger Decal or Cap today
Not quite what I was looking for. I might tell him how he's number 1 and all, but not with the same finger they are marketing.
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You show them, you tell them, then you demonstrate it against them, and they still don't get it. Is football really THAT hard to understand? I mean, we're not talking about breaking down the intricacies of the game on an NFL level, or even getting them to understand how to control the game on a Playstation 3. First off, as much as I know about football, the NFL is a bit ahead of my curve, and a playstation has way too many buttons for me to figure it all out...I just pick a play or two and stick with a couple buttons. I consider that an achievement of a guy who grew up with the one button-one joystick Atari era.
What we're talking about is simple backyard, neighborhood football games. The same game I learned to play in the 80's (yeah, i'm that old). I'm playing kids that are high school age, who are smart enough to operate these new-fangled video game systems in their sleep (I'm not), are in shape (I'm not), and can run, throw and catch (which I can do the last 2 out of those 3). And yet, I can take just about anybody and beat an opposing team out in the yard.
I'm not that good of a player, I just know the game, but most of my teammattes aren't anywhere near that level of knowledge. So I play with a bunch of kids, even when I have the teenagers, who understand at best the concept of football. And here I am, a 30 year old guy staring very near the peak of that proverbial hill I'm supposed to be going over sometime in the future, who is out of shape (I mention it again because of how badly that condition is for me), and yet I embarass these kids everytime we play.
The other day, I used my 5 year old. On offense, it was easy...just give Buggy the ball. And while I did a little bit of blocking, Buggy made easy work out of a couple of kids twice his size and twice his age....especially after I pointed out to him NOT to run backwards, but towards the endzone. On defense, it got to the point where I showed the other side a play to run, and LET them run it, just so they would score...
I hate to embarrass the kids, but at the same time I'd like SOME competition. I don't know if I've just aged with the kids who actually take an interest in and try at football, or if its just a city kid thing where kids are interested in basketball and soccer, or "just hanging out" as their main ideas of how to occupy their time. And of course, I love how kids complain how bored they are, but any ideas of what to do are met with the constant phrase "Naw, I don't feel like doing that."
Now to be fair, I'm sure my parents could say the same thing about me back then, but it was usually when there was NOONE to play with. That and their idea of me cleaning my room "to ease my boredom' doesn't exactly fly as a legitimate suggestion.
Growing up in Sac City, we had two things going for us. A ravine, and Witte's yard. The ravine was for exploring, mapping out, and playing war or building a fort. But Witte's Yard...that was football central, and in our neighborhood it was the equivalent of Soldier Field. Hallowed grounds to be sure. Rain, Snow, Sunshine, Cold or Hot, we'd play, because it didn't matter to us when we had a group of us together. We just played..by the rules, and hard. It was all about winning, and effort and all that other crap a coach would say while giving you a pre-game or halftime speech.
It didn't matter if there was only 4 of us, or 20 of us...GAME ON!! And of course I was always out to try to show up my buddy Jay's older brother with my impressive skills, right up until he decided to show me he had moved on and learned even more to continue beating up on me on the gridiron. But now, he too is old like me, and I think that I can take him now...Josh is all broken. For reasons why see this video
Tell Brett what you think of him! Get a #4 Finger Decal or Cap today
Not quite what I was looking for. I might tell him how he's number 1 and all, but not with the same finger they are marketing.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You show them, you tell them, then you demonstrate it against them, and they still don't get it. Is football really THAT hard to understand? I mean, we're not talking about breaking down the intricacies of the game on an NFL level, or even getting them to understand how to control the game on a Playstation 3. First off, as much as I know about football, the NFL is a bit ahead of my curve, and a playstation has way too many buttons for me to figure it all out...I just pick a play or two and stick with a couple buttons. I consider that an achievement of a guy who grew up with the one button-one joystick Atari era.
What we're talking about is simple backyard, neighborhood football games. The same game I learned to play in the 80's (yeah, i'm that old). I'm playing kids that are high school age, who are smart enough to operate these new-fangled video game systems in their sleep (I'm not), are in shape (I'm not), and can run, throw and catch (which I can do the last 2 out of those 3). And yet, I can take just about anybody and beat an opposing team out in the yard.
I'm not that good of a player, I just know the game, but most of my teammattes aren't anywhere near that level of knowledge. So I play with a bunch of kids, even when I have the teenagers, who understand at best the concept of football. And here I am, a 30 year old guy staring very near the peak of that proverbial hill I'm supposed to be going over sometime in the future, who is out of shape (I mention it again because of how badly that condition is for me), and yet I embarass these kids everytime we play.
The other day, I used my 5 year old. On offense, it was easy...just give Buggy the ball. And while I did a little bit of blocking, Buggy made easy work out of a couple of kids twice his size and twice his age....especially after I pointed out to him NOT to run backwards, but towards the endzone. On defense, it got to the point where I showed the other side a play to run, and LET them run it, just so they would score...
I hate to embarrass the kids, but at the same time I'd like SOME competition. I don't know if I've just aged with the kids who actually take an interest in and try at football, or if its just a city kid thing where kids are interested in basketball and soccer, or "just hanging out" as their main ideas of how to occupy their time. And of course, I love how kids complain how bored they are, but any ideas of what to do are met with the constant phrase "Naw, I don't feel like doing that."
Now to be fair, I'm sure my parents could say the same thing about me back then, but it was usually when there was NOONE to play with. That and their idea of me cleaning my room "to ease my boredom' doesn't exactly fly as a legitimate suggestion.
Growing up in Sac City, we had two things going for us. A ravine, and Witte's yard. The ravine was for exploring, mapping out, and playing war or building a fort. But Witte's Yard...that was football central, and in our neighborhood it was the equivalent of Soldier Field. Hallowed grounds to be sure. Rain, Snow, Sunshine, Cold or Hot, we'd play, because it didn't matter to us when we had a group of us together. We just played..by the rules, and hard. It was all about winning, and effort and all that other crap a coach would say while giving you a pre-game or halftime speech.
It didn't matter if there was only 4 of us, or 20 of us...GAME ON!! And of course I was always out to try to show up my buddy Jay's older brother with my impressive skills, right up until he decided to show me he had moved on and learned even more to continue beating up on me on the gridiron. But now, he too is old like me, and I think that I can take him now...Josh is all broken. For reasons why see this video
Monday, September 28, 2009
Did I mention that I hate Brett Favre?
Oh, Sunday was a day of a very good high, and an even lower low. This past weekend, my beloved San Francisco 49ers visited the Minnesota Vikings for a showdown of unbeatens. During the season, week in and week out, here in Iowa, I can pretty much count on seeing a Vikings' game on netowrk television. Of course the one week, in which my team actually shows up to Minnesota, network tv will NOT cover the Vikings.
We were forced to see either the routing of the Chiefs by Philadelphia, followed by a Denver/Oakland Game, or we could watch the Rams get smacked down by Green Bay. Obviously the networks weren't too excited about the Detroit Lions game being televised, although they did pull out a win over the Washington Redskins for their first victory in about 21 months with a score of 19-14. Ironically, the two untelevised games being played in the Midwest were the only two games that could be considered competitive. So, my following of the SanFran-Minnesota game was by watching the score updates in the upper right hand corner of the screen. I kept seeing a back and forth game all afternoon. But then I saw the update that showed the 49ers up by 4 points with 1:41 to go in the game. At 0:41 left, I saw the same score, and again at 0:14. I was convinced that me not being able to watch the 49ers playing on tv would be alleviated by them beating down the Vikings, along with the 4th quarter comeback quarterback, Mr FAVRAY himself. Then it happened, the update comes around again...with :02 left on the clock, Minnesota had scored a touchdown, from 33 yards out. I didn't really think I had a heart, until it broke at that very moment. And I'm sure one certain Professor Scott from Maine, one of those silly Vikings' fans, will have something to say in the comments section once he reads this...
It's not like I had any illusions of my 49ers having a perfect season (that would take an even greater miracle than was the Lions having a perfectly winless season last year). But I really wanted the Indecisive One, also known as Brett Favre, be dealt his first loss with Minnesota, while simultaneously securing the 49ers the top spot in their division. I can however thank the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts for beating Seattle and Arizona, respectively, and making the division standings in my favor.
I can only hope that Coach Singletary drills it through the heads of the defensive backs that even a friggin 5 inch margin in the very back of the end zone is way too much room to be giving up, especially with an old codger like Favre that apparently still has enough talent to pull those kinds of stunts off. (On a scale of 1-100, my HATE-Favre-ometer clocked in at a whopping 134.6) Not to mention the incredible acrobatics of the Vikings wideout, Greg Lewis, to not only make a fingertip catch and drag the second foot barely inbounds.
Although, there were a couple good signs shown in this game. The star running back, Frank Gore, left the game with an ankle injury. The 49ers adjusted, and still, with the exception of the last play, just simply outplayed the Vikings, without the "main threat". QB Shaun Hill and TE Vernon Davis hooked up for 2 touchdowns. With Davis showing he is in fact a tough receiver who can be a playmaker, it will open up the wideouts for more plays throughout the season. I just hope that when Gore is out, and Coffee is in for him, that he is a good enough runner to keep the passing game an open and viable threat, to maintain a potent offense that few of us 49er fans remember from the good old days.
We were forced to see either the routing of the Chiefs by Philadelphia, followed by a Denver/Oakland Game, or we could watch the Rams get smacked down by Green Bay. Obviously the networks weren't too excited about the Detroit Lions game being televised, although they did pull out a win over the Washington Redskins for their first victory in about 21 months with a score of 19-14. Ironically, the two untelevised games being played in the Midwest were the only two games that could be considered competitive. So, my following of the SanFran-Minnesota game was by watching the score updates in the upper right hand corner of the screen. I kept seeing a back and forth game all afternoon. But then I saw the update that showed the 49ers up by 4 points with 1:41 to go in the game. At 0:41 left, I saw the same score, and again at 0:14. I was convinced that me not being able to watch the 49ers playing on tv would be alleviated by them beating down the Vikings, along with the 4th quarter comeback quarterback, Mr FAVRAY himself. Then it happened, the update comes around again...with :02 left on the clock, Minnesota had scored a touchdown, from 33 yards out. I didn't really think I had a heart, until it broke at that very moment. And I'm sure one certain Professor Scott from Maine, one of those silly Vikings' fans, will have something to say in the comments section once he reads this...
It's not like I had any illusions of my 49ers having a perfect season (that would take an even greater miracle than was the Lions having a perfectly winless season last year). But I really wanted the Indecisive One, also known as Brett Favre, be dealt his first loss with Minnesota, while simultaneously securing the 49ers the top spot in their division. I can however thank the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts for beating Seattle and Arizona, respectively, and making the division standings in my favor.
I can only hope that Coach Singletary drills it through the heads of the defensive backs that even a friggin 5 inch margin in the very back of the end zone is way too much room to be giving up, especially with an old codger like Favre that apparently still has enough talent to pull those kinds of stunts off. (On a scale of 1-100, my HATE-Favre-ometer clocked in at a whopping 134.6) Not to mention the incredible acrobatics of the Vikings wideout, Greg Lewis, to not only make a fingertip catch and drag the second foot barely inbounds.
Although, there were a couple good signs shown in this game. The star running back, Frank Gore, left the game with an ankle injury. The 49ers adjusted, and still, with the exception of the last play, just simply outplayed the Vikings, without the "main threat". QB Shaun Hill and TE Vernon Davis hooked up for 2 touchdowns. With Davis showing he is in fact a tough receiver who can be a playmaker, it will open up the wideouts for more plays throughout the season. I just hope that when Gore is out, and Coffee is in for him, that he is a good enough runner to keep the passing game an open and viable threat, to maintain a potent offense that few of us 49er fans remember from the good old days.
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