Miasmatic Review

Football

Okay, the opening weekend of football has come and gone. Let's look at the highs and lows.

High: Football is back in season
Low: Ktreva is effectively a widow until after the Superbowl.

High: The Packers Beat the Bears
Low: Urlacher is out for the season. (yea, he's a Bear, but I don't like seeing non-primadonna players getting hurt for the season.)

High: There were a lot of really good close games.
Low: There were a lot of one sided blow outs.

High: Detroit seems like they want to keep their losing streak going.
Low: I've been tired hearing about He Who Shall Not Be Named (F@vre) for four years during every game. It seems to have gotten worse this year.

High: All the football foods are being made.
Low: I can't eat any of them.

High: Cheerleaders
Low: They still have clothes on.

High: Raiders looked like a professional team last night.
Low: They were robbed of a Touchdown due to bad officiating.

That being said. it was a great opening weekend. We have 16 more weeks of regular season to go! YAY!

2008 Football season in review.

Okay, so the 2008 NFL regular season is over. This year my Packers did not make it to the play offs, in fact the only two highlights of the season where a 37-3 spanking of the bears and the fact that we didn't end up being the team that Detroit finally won a game against. Honestly, did anyone at the beginning of the season really think Detroit would go 0-16?

That also means that my annual Pick 'ems and Sal Cap leagues are done. So lets see who the winners are

For the Pick ems, our very own Quality Weenie took first place. She took first two years ago. Yea, that's me in Third. After commanding the front position for 10 of the 17 weeks I fell too hard a couple of weeks ago to make a comeback.

For Sal Cap we have Carolina Sand Gnats, AKA Spurs of what was once Pull my Finger won. Repeating his win from the 2005 season. I took second place in this one. Spurs got a commanding lead and just held onto it.

Well congratulations to the both of you, I will be in contact with you shortly to get your information!

Greatest football catch... EVER!

Holy crap! I've seen some impressive catches over the years, but this high school kid makes a great one-handed, back flip catch.

WOW!

Sports fan Jersey Rules and laws.

Over the last couple of months I have had discussions regarding the wearing of sports jerseys. At one time there was a great online list of the rules, but I can no longer find the website. I had it bookmarked, but it looks like it has been taken down. Fortunately for me I copied and pasted the rules to my own computer for a quick reference. I feel that these rules should, nay… NEED to be out there.

I’ve had a lot of discussions regarding the wearing of jerseys and what is acceptable and what is not. For some reason I became a guru regarding jersey rules amongst my friends and acquaintances, probably because I memorized them.

Now before anyone yells at me over the rules, I did not come up with these. In fact I’m not sure who did as there was never any credit given and the original site even stated they were not sure where the rules came from. Legend has it that they where handed down over time since the late 1800’s. (If by legend you mean me making shite up) Now I did update some of the rules a little by adding examples. Anything in the parenthesis is something I added. I did that just for clarification. Since its football season and the only sport I follow is football, I only used football related examples. However these rules to apply to all sports and the wearing of jerseys.

Rules for Wearing a Jersey

1. All Jerseys should be an actual jersey, authentic or replica. Cheap knock-off and shirts that look like a jersey are not acceptable.

2. Only wear a jersey for a player that is a current member of your team. If you bought a jersey in the previous season and the player is let go or traded to another team you are no longer allowed to wear that players Jersey. (Example: Bret Favre’s Packers Jerseys should not be worn because at the time of this post he is a New York Jet.)
2A. Players that are retired are acceptable as long as it is a jersey from the team in which they retired. (Example Jerome Bettis’ Steelers Jerseys are acceptable)
2B. Players that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame as long as the Jersey is from the team they were inducted into the Hall of Fame. (Example: Joe Montana. He was traded to Kansas City in 1993. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000. From 93 to 2000 you could not wear his 49ers Jersey but once inducted into the Hall of Fame it was okay.)
2C. Players that have had their numbers retired it is acceptable to wear their jersey
2D. All Star/Pro Bowl jerseys are acceptable to wear. As this is a mix game of the best players in the sport, it is acceptable to wear their All Star/Pro Bowl jersey even if they are no longer on the team they were with at the time of the All Star Game/Pro Bowl. (Example: TE Alge Crumpler was in the 2007 Pro Bowl as an Atlanta Falcon, he is with the Tennessee Titans at the time of this post. It is okay to wear his 2007 Pro Bowl Jersey.)

3. Throwback and retro Jerseys are acceptable as long as the jersey matches the style of the time the player was on the team. (Example: Do not get a Joe Namath Jets Jersey in the current style. Joe’s last season with the Jets was 1976). Most official retro jerseys are correct.

4. It is not permissible to wear a customized team jersey. If you didn’t play for the team you should not wear a jersey with your name on the back.
4A. If you share the last name with a player on the team it is okay to have that player’s jersey, as long as it complies with section 2.
4B. Customized jerseys that have the numbers 00 and a non-last name are okay. (Example: A Seattle Seahawks fan wearing a Jersey with the back saying “12th Man” is okay, however it is not recommended.)

5. Jerseys must match the color scheme of your team. If your team does not play in color scheme of your jersey, it is not acceptable. (A lot of teams sell third color jerseys. The Green Bay Packers have Green as their primary color for home games, and white for the away. You can get a jersey where yellow is the primary color, the yellow jersey is not acceptable).
5A. Throwback jerseys of current players are acceptable if the team played at least one game in it.
5B. The specialized jerseys for females are acceptable for females. (They sell pink, fluorescent and rhinestoned jerseys fitted for women.)

6. Do not attend a game wearing the jersey of a team that is not playing. (If you are going to a Tampa Bay Bucs VS. Oakland Raiders game, do not wear an Arizona Cardinals jersey)
6A. It is permissible to wear jerseys of teams not playing to championship or all-star games. (Example: It would have been okay to wear a St. Louis Rams jersey to the Super Bowl (NY Giants VS. NE Patriots) or Pro-Bowl)
6B. This applies only to games where the wearer is in attendance at the stadium or arena. (If you are spending an afternoon watching the games at home, with friends or at a sports bar, you can wear your team’s jersey)

7. Jerseys should only be worn by an individual in support of their team. (You are a Washington Redskins fan; you should not wear a Chicago Bears jersey)
7A. If you are a fan of an individual player, than it is okay to wear that individual’s jersey even if they are playing for a team that is not your favorite as long as it complies with section 2. (IE If you are a Packer fan and a Brett Favre fan, you can wear a Brett Favre Jet’s jersey in support of Bret.)
7B. It is permissible to wear a rival team’s jersey if you lose a wager. (Example: A Pittsburgh Steelers fan bets a Philadelphia Eagles fan that if the Steelers make it to the Super Bowl the Philly fan has to wear a Steeler Jersey and vice, versa.)

Those are the rules, if you are caught in violation you may have a penalty thrown at you and be expected to make amends. It depends on the group of people you are hanging out with. Also, now I’m going to go rule by rule and break them down based on my opinion.

1) I think this one was pretty self explanatory. We’ve all seen the really bad knock off and cheap jerseys out there. If you are going to support your team, buy the real thing. Don’t get something cheap and just embarrass yourself. If you can’t afford the real thing, that’s fine. Get a regular t-shirt or something.

2) This is pretty cut and dry and I agree with it 100%. If you are buying a jersey you are not only supporting the player, but also the team. If you want to continue to support the player, then you need to support the new team they are with. Sure this impacts me as I can no longer wear my Favre jersey, but he is with another team. If he had retired from the Packers… or stayed retired sure I could still wear it, but no he went to another team.

3)All I’m going to say about this is that the last time I went to a Packer Game I saw a guy wearing #66 Nitschke jersey in current uniform style. He was a great player and a Packer legend, but he played in the 60’s not 2007. The uniforms, similar, are nowhere near the same. You can buy the retro jerseys, I’ve seen them. So this just doesn’t make sense to buy a modern jersey for a legendary player.

4) Okay, I saw a guy wearing a Packer jersey with #15 and the last name Ecklinburg. First off, 15 is a retired number of Green Bay legend Bart Starr, this just looked goofy and gave the impression the guy was a huge dork. He was not on the team, and no one is going to believe he was. Seriously most fans know who has been on the team and the numbers, especially the famous numbers. If you are going to get a personalized jersey, at least get the number 00. As for the non-last name portion of this I can see both sides of the argument.

5) I agree with this one 100%. I’ve seen guys wearing the goofy off color jerseys, they look horrible, and to be honest, pretty dorky. I’ve also seen a guy that had a customized Bears jersey done in Black and Silver because it looked “cool”. It was hideous. Now for the female jerseys, I’m sorry I think they look sexy and if it’s what it takes to get more females into the sport, let it happen. Drunken females at games are fun!

6) This rule is pretty self explanatory and makes complete sense. Every game I’ve gone to there has always been “that guy” wearing the jersey for a team that isn’t playing. It’s okay to support your team, but if they aren’t in the arena you are in, honestly just wear normal clothes or buy a t-shirt for whichever team you are rooting for. I’ve done it.

7) Nothing is more annoying then wearing a jersey for another team because you like the way it looks. I have a friend that does this and I’ve revoked his man card over it. He claims to be a Packer fan but owns jerseys for different players on different teams… because he thinks “they look tight”. Yea, I get that annoyed. In fact mutual friends have gotten as annoyed. However, thanks to clause 7B I had to wear a Grossman jersey when the Bears went to the Super Bowl. The bet was just Bears gear… but I got a jersey. Sigh.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go look at the collection of jerseys that won’t be worn again. It's thanks to these rules that we have the Bad Jersey Blog.

Football!!!!!!

A group of friends of mine, including Bruce, usually get together on Sundays to watch football. Today I'm hosting the gathering. YAY! They never wanted to come here in the past because my TV was too small. I only had a 32 inch. Well last January I bought a 50' HD and now it's okay to come over.

I'm not sure how many people are going to be here, as it always fluctuates week to week. But I know I'm grilling up a ton of burgers.

If you're in the neighborhood stop by, just bring your own beer.

Go Pack GO! Finally

It's been a shitty day. I didn't get home until the start of the third quarter. Now I'm going to sit back, drink some beer and watch my pack. They better win!

Favre, Thompson and McCarthy.

I’ve been waiting to comment on this until it played out, and now it has. Brett Favre has been traded to the NY Jets. I’m so pissed off on so many different levels that it’s hard to explain. First off, if you want to know the truth I blame Favre, McCarthy and Thompson for the whole deal. Actually I think at least 40-50% of the blame lies solely on Favre’s shoulders. For those of you Favre fans that are about to lay into me, let me start off by saying two things. The man acted like a giant primadonna with his retirement thing for the last couple of years and the Packers gave him plenty of a chance to come back. He just waited until they had moved on before changing his mind.

When he retired, I believe that he truly wanted to retire. That he was done with football as a player. I figured he’d be around doing promotions and commentary, but he wouldn’t don pads and a helmet again. His retirement speech was too full of emotion for it to just be an act. He had been contemplating retirement for years and at the time he made the decision he truly did what he thought was best for him and his family. I respected him for that, I’d miss him, but I respected him.

Now we can look at the infamous timeline. Some say the timeline is full of crap, others believe it. Personally I think there is a lot of truth. Rumors of him coming out of retirement were squashed by Brett himself when he stated, “it’s all rumor”. He denied he was coming out of retirement in early June. Then in July he announces he is going to come out of retirement… right before training camps. By this time all of the plans had been set. The Packers couldn’t sit around waiting and hoping for Brett to decide if he was going to actually come out of retirement. So they moved on. They drafted based on him not being back, did free agency that way, etc. They planned to move on. It takes a pretty big megalomaniac to figure that an entire team is going to put their future on hold to wait on what he might do.

Then he talks about how he was disrespected. How about the disrespect and hurt he did to not only the team but also the fans? He was… is a hero and Lambeau Legend to most Packer fans and even some football fans. For him to sit here and play his game isn’t fair to them either. I guess he doesn’t owe us anything, I mean he did give us 16 years of joy and memories. He does have to look out for him and his family.

As for McCarthy and Thompson, those two could have handled this so much better. I mean c’mon, this is Brett Favre. He is the man, the myth, the legend and face of the Packers. If he wants to come back, give the guy a shot. I agree in not just releasing him, which would have been stupid. You can’t risk a divisional rival to pick him up. But honestly, if you don’t think he can do it, then open up the starting QB position to a competition. Maybe Favre has decreasing skills, but maybe he’s still better than Rodgers. We wouldn’t know until you put them into a fair and equal competition. If Favre won’t put his skills to the test against Rodgers, than let him ride bench. If he does and wins, he’s your man. It doesn’t take Rocket Surgery to figure that bit out.

As for the Minnesota Viking tampering charges, Goodall says it didn’t happen. I think there wasn’t enough evidence to prove it. There had to be some catalyst for Favre getting out. I mean he obviously wanted out of Green Bay; the Vikes gave him a place. He decided to come out of retirement. There was the comment that he would like to play against Green Bay twice… how’s that for loyalty? Anyway, that’s water under the bridge and I’m not dwelling on it.

To say that I feel hurt, betrayed and am saddened by the outcome is an understatement. I never thought I would see Favre play in a uniform other than a Packer’s uniform. Now that it is going to happen, it’s like being betrayed by your best friend. Some people say this isn’t going to hurt his legacy, but I think it will. At least in this fan’s eyes it’s tarnished. I still have respect and brotherly love for him, I’m just hurt.

Oh, and to all the Packer fans booing Rodgers, take a note. This wasn’t his decision. He’s just a pawn in the show. Grow up and give the guy a break. Destroying his confidence now is not going to help the team any.

It's that time again!

Folks it’s that time of year again for the Fourth annual Miasmatic Review Pro Football Pick’ems and Salary Cap Football league. If you are interested in playing and didn’t get an invite already, leave a comment and I’ll send you one. Maybe you don’t want to play, but you know someone that would, let them know. I’ll be more then happy to let anyone play. The more the merrier. The Salary Cap isn't open yet, once it is I'll make sure you get an invite.

It’s completely free, you don’t have to pay for anything and if you take first place, you get a prize of nominal value for the team of your choice. But the big thing is that it’s for fun and bragging rights.

Don't forget, you have to pick each week for your favorite team in order to win the prize!

Home at last.

And I'm ready to go back to work.

Clone had the last of his Birthday party's this weekend. We had his kid's party at McDonalds. Which after dealing with 10 3-6 year olds for 2 hours I was ready to call it the end. The important point was that he had fun.

After his party I took Clone to his first Football Game. Well okay, he's seen his brother play flag football and middle school football, but this was semi-professional football. The Rock River Raptors. I even had his name and birthday announced over the intercom and on the jumbotron. He loved the whole thing. He was pretty good up until the start of the fourth quarter. Then he started getting tired and wanted to go home. He had a lot of fun, and keeps asking me to take him again. And I will sometime... just probably not until next year.

After the game Bruce and I hooked up with Graumagus at Carlisle's for a couple of rounds of the best damned Scottish Ale on tap. This is where Graumagus tricked me into helping him move the next day. Apparently not only did he want me to give him the extra washer and dryer that I had, but he wanted me to haul it and help move it for him too. What an ingrate!

That was all on Saturday. Sunday I wake up at noon... after not getting home until 3:30AM. Grau was supposed to call and say he was coming over. I had just gotten downstairs when there's a knock on the door. Guess who? I answer the door with, "I thought you were going to call first?" He responded with, "Yea, I remembered that as soon as I pulled up." Fortunately I was awake.

The dryer was in my basement, the washer was in the garage. They had been sitting in the same spot unused for almost 10 years. It appears that my garage roof must have sprung a leak in the winter as there was a bunch of nasty water in the washer. Which made it that much more heavy. By the way, it seems that back in the 60's they made washers using cast iron. That damn thing was heavy! The extra water didn't help. Plus we had to lift it into the back of my truck. Fortunately it's only about a 3.5 foot vertical lift.

After moving the washer and dryer into his new apartment's basement, we plugged it in to check it out. I guess a 40 year old electrical appliance sitting under the leaking roof of a garage doesn't last too well... it didn't seem to work. Owell, as I told him. It's his problem now! I offered to give him his money back... but since it was free he didn't think it would be worth the hassle.

As punishment for making him take a broken washer, which I did warn him it may not work, I had to help him move a refrigerator too. At this point I should mention that Wes did come over to help with all of this. I don't want to leave him out. We go to his sister's storage unit where the frige is sitting and try to get it out. Grau had to play reverse tetris in order to be able to even thing about sliding it out of the unit.

When he opened the door we discovered that a year and a half ago when it was put in the storage unit, his sister hadn't bothered to clean nor properly empty the thing. Yea... that wasn't pleasant.

After getting that to his new place and making 398,7485 gay jokes about his curtains and just him in general we made a nice impression on his new neighbors. Lets just say me rubbing my nipples in the parking lot and saying in a lisp, "If you think that frige is dirty now, just wait until we get together later." Yeah... I think his new neighbors believe a big ol' "bear" is moving in. Even after that and the broken washer Grau was kind enough to take Wes and I to Hooters for some Hot Wings and beer.

That sounds like it was all pretty easy going and fun, so why do I want to go back to work? Well, Ktreva is in Chicago on business leaving me home alone with the boys. I'm about ready to tranquilize both of them and hide them in a closet.

Now if you'll excuse me in the time it took me to write this, I think they managed to disassemble Clone's bed.

Thanks for the memories Brett Favre.

After a meeting this morning, the news I had been expecting, yet dreading was delivered to me. When I returned to my desk I had no less than 50 instant messages, e-mails or people walk up and tell me that Brett Favre announced his retirement.

I handled it well all day and kept myself composed, but I'm actually saddened by this news. I started really watching football in the early 80's. I remember watching Lynn Dickey, Randy Wright and Don "Magic" Majkowski lead my team on the field of glory. I also remember watching a game on September 20, 1992 when Majkowski hurt his ankle and was replaced by Favre where he lead the team to his first of many comeback victories. Over the last 16 seasons, almost half of my life, Favre lead my team to 15 winning seasons, 2 tie seasons (8-8 record), and one losing season(2005). When we won the Super Bowl in 97, Favre was easily recognized as Green Bay's favorite son.

Favre in the Super Bowl

It's not because of this that it saddens me, it's that over the last 16 seasons he's been there on the field for us. I've watched him, cheered for him and have seen him overcome many obstacles. He overcame injury, addiction to vicodin, injuries, the death of his father, his wife Deanna's breast cancer and Katrina damaging his home town. Brett was a classy man that is a role model to kids and adults. He has been a big part of my football life and I'm going to miss watching him play.

I was just happy I was able to be at his last winning game in the NFL. The most memorable game I've ever seen in my life. It was a great time and a good victory. I'm really glad I was there for it.

Thanks Brett. Thanks for everything you did for me, my team and the NFL in general. You deserve your retirement. You are one of the greatest.

However, if you come out of retirement like some people think you might, you're more than welcome back!

Rock River Raptors have angered me.

Tonight is the “second” Rock River Raptors home game of the season. And to be honest, I’m not sure if I am going to go or not. The management and front office have really angered me to no end. It all started last year when the Raptors made it to the playoffs.

To increase sales the management and front office offered a package deal. If you bought all the playoff tickets and the 2008 season tickets they would knock 25% off of the total package and if the Raptors didn’t make it to the next level of the playoffs they would refund the money for the tickets. It was a huge savings and well worth the money. I jumped on and purchased the tickets.

The Raptors were eliminated in the first round. Meaning that the second round of the playoffs and the championship tickets should be refunded to the ticket holders that purchased them. I kept waiting and calling about the refund only to never get it. The office would give me the run around about whose fault it is or just not return my calls. At one point I called the Raptors because I had heard that some of the season ticket holders that had pre-paid for tickets were not showing as paid.

When I called they told me they did have a record of my payment. I inquired about the refund and they told me they did not have me on the list for the refund. I was about livid. They added my name to the list along with the friends of mine and my father who had all prepaid. I still received a song and dance about when we will get the refund.

My tickets where paid for in June. The last playoff game was toward the end of July. It is now the beginning of March and I still don’t have my money back. They where quick to take the money out of the account, but they sure don’t want to give it back.

To make matters ever worse, they changed the league they play in from the UIF to the CIFL. When they did this they sent out a nice letter saying that they decided not to raise the cost of tickets this year, like they would have received another dime from me or I would have accepted anything short of the refund they owed me. I’m still fighting to get my money when the schedule comes out. They shortened the seasons from 8 home games to 6 home games. In the past they were all on a Saturday night, now some are on a Friday night. Okay, it’s a little annoying as no pre-game partying, but I can live with it.

When I questioned the raise of ticket prices, I was told they didn’t raise them. Yes they did! I paid for 8 home games, I got 6 home games. That’s when I was told that I still get two home games, but they are pre-season. Pre-season, that’s right. To add insult to injury, one of the preseason games wasn’t even held at the MetroCentre (The arena the games are normally played in). The night we were able to pick up tickets we had to go to this indoor sports center in Loves Park, fight with parking to get into a crowded arena to pick up tickets. Where they wanted me to pay an additional $5.00 for Clone (my four year old) to get into the game. Again, they are not getting anymore money from me.

This wasn’t even a pre-season game; it was an exhibition game against some local iron-man football club. You didn’t even get to see them play players of the same caliber. They had an away pre-season game against a rival team from the UIF. Then they scheduled a pre-season game on a Monday night. Monday night?!?!?! Hell, I’ve given up NFL tickets because it’s a Monday night game. I’ll be lucky if I get home before 11:00 PM tonight. Most of the people I know can’t go because they have kids and it’s a school night, they have to work, they have weekday obligations or it’s just not feasible.

As for the regular season games, I’m going to miss half of them because they are scheduled during re-enactments. That’s not their fault, but when you only have 6 home games, it decreases the chances of you being able to get to one if you have any other hobbies, kids or plans.

Needless to say I’m a bit annoyed. I do know that I’m not spending one dime more than I have to this year on this team until I get my money back. I also know that I better get a huge apology for the treatment I’ve received. There are a lot of other fans out there just like me, I bet you see their support drop off this year. You don’t treat your fan base like this and expect to keep them.

HAHA, Fair weather fan gone bust!

Maybe he's a retailer, maybe he's just a lame bandwagon jumper, either way there is a lesson to be learned. Nothing is a "Sure thing".

Free Patriots Gear.

Huh, didn't see that coming.

So yesterday I predicted the Pats to win in a high scoring game. Turns out Giants win in a low scoring game. I don't think anyone saw the score being that low and the Giants winning. Honestly I'm glad they did. My hatred of Tom Brady (Arrogant, cocky bastard that he is), Bill Belichick (Cheating bastard), Randy Moss (One of the cockiest, unsportsmanlike behaving jerks in the NFL) and the Patriots organization (They have some players I like and respect) didn't out weight my hatred of Eli Manning (Baby that threw a temper-tantrum when he was drafted because he didn't like the team he was drafted to). So I ended up pulling for New York, didn't think they would do it, but hey.

I was a bit disappointed in the commercials. None of them really made me laugh that hard. The NFL Foxbot Vs. The Terminator intros were hilarious!.

I just wished they would have shown who won the fight after the two additional Foxbots showed up.

For the game I went to Bruce's. Where I spent two hours grilling burgers and brats. Well okay, I used a grill but technically I was smoking them. I think everyone liked the burgers and brats. Yet, no one fought over them, I'm going to have to work on my smoke packet formula to see if I can get this to happen some time.

Graumagus crawled out of the woodwork to show up for the party. He shared some news with all of us about his blogging future. That is a post for another time, but all I'm going to say is that don't expect him back anytime in the near future.

Today I took the day off of work as my floating holiday. I always take the day after the Super Bowl, it' helps me to relax and unwind and drink in all that is the glory of the Super Bowl. I took Ktreva down to Fritz's and spent the afternoon. Of course I sent some text messages to some of my friends locally rubbing in the fact that I was there and inviting them down, but none of them showed up.

Overall it was a good weekend.

Super Bowl

Case of beer... Check
Top Sirloin Hamburgers... Check
Chips... Check
Salsa/Cheese Dip... Check
Smoking Packs... Check.
Special Grilling Tool... Check.

Bring on the Big game!

This is the best day of the year and one of my three favorite Holidays. I petition every year at work to make the Monday after the Super Bowl a corporate holiday, unfortunately I never win. But to strike my point, I use my floating holiday to take the Monday after off. To quote the legendary Vince Lombardi (Whom the Super Bowl Trophy is named for) "It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up." So I'll try again next year.

Big Game.

I’ve got football on the mind, if you can’t tell from the below posts. Tomorrow marks the climax of football season for me with the Super Bowl. Sure the Pro Bowl is coming up, but it’s just not the same. It’s still fun to watch as you get to see “the best”*** of the NFL playing together.

I’m still reeling over the fact that my Packers didn’t make it to the Big Game. I thought they were going to do it this year, as well as did a lot of other fans I know. That loss to the Giants just really harshes my mellow. I keep telling everyone that I’m fine and over it, but deep down inside I still have a burning anger and disappointment that is festering. I had a huge post all ready to go for today if the Pack had made it.

It had the Packer Bikini Girls.

Yea, it’s not just the male fans that like it cold. Although I swear their smuggling raisins.

It had the new front window I was going to have installed in the house: Ktreva was all for it too.

Thanks to Leslie of Leslie's Omnibus for the picture

Maybe even get some updated photos of the Cheese Bra. But alas, they choked and gave the game up to the Giants.

Now I’ll admit there is a small part of me relieved. I mean, I didn’t want to watch my team make it to the Super Bowl and then lose. I’ve done that once before and it sucks. Especially since I’m a Packer fan in Bear Country. Damn Bear fan’s can get pretty obnoxious about things when the Packers loose. At Least I was gracious last year, rooted for the Bears and actually consoled the Bear fans I know. It’s not that I don’t think the Packers could beat the Patriots. Any team can be beaten. I just think that the Pats are on fire this year and are going to go all the way undefeated. You’ll see even more fair weather Pat fans next year. Bastiches crawl out of the woodwork.

My prediction on the game is going to Pats 38, Giants 35. I think it will be close, but the Pats are going to win after a last minute failed drive by the Giants to win/go into overtime. The other prediction I’m curious about is the one from the movie I Am Legend. I won’t give away anything from the movie, but at one point in the movie scrolling across the bottom of a newscasts proclaims, “Giants lose to Patriots for second time this season 23 to 7.”

So who do you think is going to win and what is going to be the score?

***I don’t necessarily agree these are the best players in the NFL. A lot of the voting, especially from the fans, is based on popularity. It’s kind of like how most Americans vote for politicians, name recognition.

Best Football Movies.

To get geared up for the Super Bowl tomorrow, a lot of fans like to watch football movies. Entertainment Weekly has put together a list of what they consider the 14 best football movies.

This is an opinion article, but I'm damn well going to disagree with some of their choices.

Three I disagree with:
1) Diner: It's not a bad movie, but it's not about football. If you're going to do a list about football movies, the movie should center around football. That would be like throwing in The Last Boyscout as a football movie. At least it revolved around a football player.

2) Horse Feathers: Maybe it's because it's older or maybe because it's the Marx brothers, but I didn't like this movie. I didn't think it was all that great or funny.

3) Any Given Sunday: I really didn't like this Oliver Stone movie. Then again I don't think there are many Oliver Stone movies I do like. I know what he was trying to do with this movie, but I found it to be boring and it kind of dragged. If it's on TV and there isn't anything else on, I'll watch it, but honestly I didn't think it was that good.

Now, I gave you three that I didn't like, let me give you three that I think should replace those.

1) The Replacements: Fitting especially since I'm replacing another choice with it. Not only is this movie funny, but it has a good message and I love the satirical back hand it gives modern day athletes. "Do you know how much the insurance is on a Ferrari?"

2) The Program: I always felt this movie was underrated. When I was in college there were some football players that lived on my floor in the dorm, we would hang out and they said that there is a lot of reality to this movie. I always thought it was a good one, and a damn spot better then the three above.

3) The Longest Yard (Remake/2005). I know they original is on their list, but they blasted the remake. Honestly, I liked the remake. Maybe it's not as good as the original, but it was good in it's own way. It was funny and entertaining. Especially when they exchanged the guards steroids with estrogen.

Again this is all opinion, you may agree with me or you may not. What movies do you think should be on there and which ones didn't you like?

Bad Jersey Blog

With the Super Bowl coming up, I wanted to help some of the fans out there that aren't as die hard about the rules of etiquette about attire. The biggest is the jersey rules.

First: Always wear a Jersey of either your favored team or if your favored team isn't playing it is acceptable to wear a jersey for the team you are rooting. IE if you are a Dallas fan, it would be unacceptable for you to wear a Bucs jersey during the big game since it's the Pats versus the Giants.

Second: Never, ever, ever, EVER wear a jersey of a player that is no longer on your team. There are three exceptions to this rule. 1) If they retired from your team. Think John Elway with the Broncos. 2) If your team retired that players number. Such as Reggie White and the Packers/Eagles. Reggie left the Eagles, Played 8 years with the Packers, retired and came back to play one year for Carolina. But since the Packers and the Eagles retired his number, it's okay to wear a Packers or Eagles Reggie White jersey. 3) The player was voted into the Hall of Fame as a player for your team. Joe Montana is a prime example of this. His last two years he played for Kansas City, but he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame under San Francisco. San Fran fans can wear a Montana Jersey. Any other situation is unacceptable.

Third: Don't wear a jersey of a player that never really had any impact on your team or was a disgrace to the position they played.

That about sums it up. But if you need some visual aids, go check out Straight Cash Homey Dot Net, or as I found it, "The Bad Jersey Blog" These guys will give you a lot of examples with some funny captions as to why these are jersey faux passes.

Yea, a trifecta of Packer Jersy no-nos. Don Beebe who only played two years for the Pack, 96 and 97 Sure they were Super Bowl years, but really didn't do that much for the team. Bill Schroeder who played his last year with the Pack in 2001 and Jeff Querry who's last season with the packers was in 91. Other than Schroeder have a couple of decent seasons, none of them were all that great.

F@#K THE MANNINGS!

F@#K ELI
F@#K PLAXICO BURRESS
F@#K AMANI TOOMER
F@#K THE GIANTS!

Yes, I have hate in my heart today. To give credit due, the Giants out played the Packers. Especially their offense against our defense. We gave up too many opportunities and made too many mistakes that the Giants capitalized on. Part of it is I think that the cold actually got to the Pack. Maybe if Mike McCarthy would let the team practice outside they would have been a little bit more accustomed to the cold. But I'm going to let this go other ways I'll be angry again for the rest of the night.

To help me get over my anger and frustration Ktreva took me down to Fritz's for an afternoon of drinking, conversing and just having a good time. I'm telling you all Fritz's is just a good place to go, chill and unwind. Plus they have the best Bar Tender during the days that I've ever had. And that's saying a lot. As I was down there slowly blowing off steam at the disappointment of my team losing to the Giants something dawned on me.

What am I going to do for the Super Bowl now. I was going to host a party if the Packers made it to the big game. Well obviously they didn't. I don't think I know any Giants fans well enough to get an invite to their party. Even if I did I'm still in a quandary about who I'm going to root for.

I have the Patriots and Tom Brady, whom I have an insane amount of dislike for and would love to see them lose the game just to shut up some of the fair weather and band wagon fans. Then again I would love to see Eli Manning loose because I have no respect for the whiny little beaotch after his stunt when he was drafted. For those of you that don't know, he was drafted by the Chargers and then threw a temper tantrum until he was traded to the Giants. Yeah, you know what. Most people are just happy they made it to the NFL, it takes a real loser to complain about which team is going to be paying you an insane amount of money for a rookie.

Right now I can't decide who to root for... or against. If I had my way both teams would loose.

BEST GAME EVER!

Just about everyone has seen pictures or clips of sporting events being played in horrible weather conditions. If you haven't, than you've heard stories about one. What do you mean you haven't? Well on December 31, 1967 in the hallowed grounds of Lambeau Field. The mighty Green Bay Packers faced off against the the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Championship. The temperatures at game time were 13 below zero with a windchill of -46.

Here are some facts from that game:

* Officially, the field's $80,000 heating system failed due to cold. Unofficially, some say, Lombardi turned it off.

* At one point during the game, the ball froze to the field during break in play

* Officials could not use whistles to stop play. They froze.

* The team canceled marching band performances after noticing blood on a few of the musician's faces.

* Packers fans several times during the contest leaned over the front row to unplug the Cowboys' heated benches.

* After the game, several fans passed out soon after warming up. Their thawed systems finally registered the alcohol they'd consumed to keep warm during the game.

* One fan, an elderly gentleman, died due to exposure.

This game will forever be known in the NFL histories as "The Ice Bowl".

Now you've heard a story about football being played in harsh weather conditions. Why did I bring this up. Well flash forward just over 40 years later to January 12th, 2008. On the Hallowed grounds of Lambeau Field, the Mighty Green Bay Packers faced off against the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks coached by Mike Holmgren, the coach that lead the Packers to the Super Bowl in 97 and 98. The man even has a street named for him in Green Bay.

They were captained by once Brett Favre backup, Matt Hasselbeck. Hasselbeck just four years earlier on the same field had faced Green Bay in a playoff game that went into overtime. When the Seahawks won the OT toss and was asked to choose, Matt said, "We want the ball, and we're going to score." And what a beautiful score it was when he threw a touchdown for an interception.

This year was going to be different. In front of a record setting crowd Green Bay took the field with the snow gently falling to the ground. And I was there to see it.

I took my father up to the game on Saturday as some time for the two of us to spend together as Father and son. Folks, I can tell you that this was the best football experience of my life. When we arrived at the stadium the snow was gently falling. At one point of the game it was coming down so hard I couldn't see across the stadium to the seats on the other side. When the snow started to gather they had three guys with brooms come out between the plays and brush off the yard lines. That quickly turned to six guys with brooms, then 6 guys with shovels. Next they brought out a gator with a snowblower attachment and finally it was a full sized farm tractor with a huge snow blower attachment. This was just so the officials and coaches could see where they were on the field.

As we sat in the stands, snow was starting to gather on the fans. Most of us had at least a good dusting of snow. Others were just down right coated in it as the largest flakes I've ever seen fell from the sky. It was a surreal moment watching my team play in that environment. To see a guy get tackled on the 30 and slide all the way to the 15. As one unbelievable play after another happened before my eyes.

Sure the first five minutes was horrible. 20 seconds in to the game we gave the ball over to Seattle on a fumble and they scored. Two plays latter we fumbled it to them again. And again they scored. After five minutes of game time we were down by 14 points.

Then it happened. Brett Favre once again took to the field and lead the Packers to a touchdown and what started a might offensive and defensive come back. The Packers trounced the Seagulls er Seahawks 42-20.

I can honestly say this was the best football game I have ever been to in my life. Everyone I talked to said the same thing. The chances of us being in the stands for a game like this are almost impossible. It really wasn't that cold, temps in the low 30s and no wind. The snow was beautiful and amazing. The intricate play of the teams in the condition is what really made the game fantastic.

The fact that the Packers won, was just the icing on the cake.

Pick 'ems and Sal Cap Results for 2007

I'm a little late in posting this, especially since the regular season football has been over for 12 days now. It's time to show the results of both my Pick 'ems and Salary Cap leagues.

Pro Football Pick 'Ems

Yea that's right. That's me in the number one position! (Does happy dance!)
I'd give Quality Weenie (Last Year's Winner) credit for second place, but she had to be disqualified for picking against her favored team. When the league was started it was clearly stated that each player must pick their favored team. Which we know from last year is Detroit Lions (Since I had to buy her the prize). Thus Second place goes to Tony's Tigers, a friend from work.

Salary Cap Football

This year's winner is Sensational Simians, AKA Bruce of Back to the Bat Cave. He took a clear lead early on and just rode Tom Brady to the Championship like a cheap whore. Not that I'm complaining, I did the same thing with LT last year. Second place is Gott, aka Jeebus, AKA T1G of Drunken Wisdom.

Congratulations to the both of you, Bruce you're prize will be coming soon.

I hope to see everyone play again next year.

Thanks for the memories

Football legend and Packer great Max McGee passed away over the weekend. Max is known for scoring the first touchdown ever in Super Bowl history. The best part of it was that he was hung over when he did it.

"McGee had only four receptions for 91 yards during the 1966 regular season. He didn't plan to play in the title game against the Chiefs, because he violated the team curfew and spent the night before partying. The next morning he reportedly told Dowler: "I hope you don't get hurt. I'm not in very good shape.""

I actually had the privilege of meeting Max about 10 years ago up in Green Bay. My Father and I went up to the game and he was at an appearance at Lambeau before the game. Since my father actually got to see him play I think it meant more to him then to me. Yet I still remember meeting him.

Here they come out of the woodwork.

Any of you that have read me over the last 3 years know that I'm a Green Bay Packer fan. Tried and true, I'm loyal to my team. Anyone that has known me for longer knows that I've been a Packer fan since the early 80's which is when I truly started watching football. Technically I can say I've been a Packer fan all my life as my father raised me one, but it wasn't until I was older that I started following football and actually caring about the team. Hell, that was back in the Lynn Dickey period where you could hear Packer fans exclaim after a loss, "You might beat the back, but you can't lick our Dickey". I remember watching him play, he had a great arm, but couldn't scramble to save his life.

Being a Packer fan to me is part of who I am. It's like being a Husband, father and re-enactor, I identify myself with it. I live it, I breath it and I love it. The heritage, the memories, the excitement and the disappointment. I remember watching the games with my father and learning new ways to curse with out it being an actual curse, such as my infamous "For the love of Pete!" and "Oh my heck!" My father had much better control over his tongue then I do.

After the domination of the NFC in the 90's there were a ton of Packers had a ton of "fans". People that swore they were true Packer fans and loyal to the team. Then a couple of years ago they started to disappear. Sure the Packers had a very bad losing season and then a mediocre 8 and 8 season. It's not a winning season, but it's not a losing season either. Either way, you didn't see as many people claiming to be Packer fans or wearing their Green Bay gear. In fact you started seeing some of these people wear the Blue and Orange of our arch rivals, the Chicago Bears.

Now the Packers are 3 and 0 on the season and the Bears are 1-2. Sure it's early into the season, but these bandwagon jumpers are already rearing their ugly heads. At work, at the store, on the radio I've heard and seen people who had been cheering on the Bears for the last couple of years raising a boisterous voice to the cheer, "GO PACK!" I was happy when these fair weather fans where cheering for other teams. It makes me sick to think I'm someplace talking with someone about the greatness of the Packers when just a year ago they were pulling for New England, the Colts, the Steelers or the Bears.

I just feel that it waters down the fan base and the opportunities for real fans. But I guess it's too much to ask them to pick a team and stick with them through thick and thin.

Green Bay fun.

What a great weekend! Ktreva and I left Rockford around 10:00AM Saturday Morning. We were to our hotel and out shopping in Green Bay by 2:00 PM. We found some new items for each of us. Ktreva was extremely happy as that she got a new ladies cut Jersey that JUST came out. It’s all sparkly and glittery in off colors and everyone was asking her were she got on game day. She loved the extra attention. It also got her some extra attention for the legendary Packalope. This man is in the NFL Hall of Fame as a fan, and has been on countless television specials, documentaries and sporting magazines as an “Ultimate Fan”.

Giving the Packalope some love.

Of course Ktreva wasn’t the only one that got their picture taken. We were doing some pre-tailgating tailgating. Yes, I that is correct. As we were walking around what did I see, a giant walking inflatable bottle of Miller Lite with two of the Miller Girls in tow. They were handing out stuff and about for photo opportunities. Me being the dirty old man that I am couldn’t pass up a chance to have my picture taken with the Giant inflatable bottle and the two slightly less attractive than my wife Miller Girls. Unfortunately the bottle did not find it amusing when I tried to pop his top for a frosty one. Later on they had the Miller Lite Ref girls walking around as part of the Beer League policing. Ktreva wouldn’t let me get my picture with them though, something about me being a perv.

Trust me that smile is real.

We had club seats for the game, which were really nice. Cup holders, waitresses, private bathrooms, a special lounge, and VIP access. Well worth the price of admission. We sat around some of the best and nicest people we’ve met at a game. We made friends with the people around us and had a great time. There were some Charger fans sitting in the “commoner” section right below us that were really obnoxious. Of course once the game started going against them, they shut up. They also left with more than 2 minutes left on the clock. We met some really nice Charger fans, so I’m not saying all of them are obnoxious, but this group of 20 definitely was. To make matters worse, I think they were related to one of the players.

One of the guys were sitting with took a picture of Ktreva and I together. Between her Jersey and my necklace we were a hit. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the necklace! You have all seen the Packer Cheese wedges; well this year they have the “Wisconsin Lei”. It’s a lei made out of foam cheese and bratwursts. I saw it and had to buy one!

She couldn’t keep her hands off of my meat.

Every year Green Bay has a specialty hat they sell for various charities and causes. A couple of years ago it was a pink hat for breast cancer, last year was a red hat for heart disease, this year it was a charcoal gray hat for the Military. They even had a wall were fans can sign a thank you to the troops. Of course I bought the hat and signed the wall, $5.00 of the hat goes toward charities that focus on veteran health, counseling and family support.

Me signing the wall after buying the hat on Saturday.

We had a great weekend. A lot of football (Packers beat the Chargers 31 to 24), we even had time to catch a couple of movies we wanted to see, ate at some great restaurants and just had some one on one time that we really needed to have.

Big weekend.

This weekend I'm actually taking Ktreva out of town on a romantic weekend for two. Saturday I'm going to take her shopping and on Sunday I have tickets to a very hard to get show. I know people that have been waiting years to get their hands on these tickets.

To learn more, see the extended entry.

That's right I'm taking Ktreva to Green Bay for a football filled weekend! We are leaving Saturday and not coming back until Monday. This is some much needed alone time. We hardly get to do anything just the two of us. This weekend is shaping up to be beautiful too. 76 degrees in Green Bay as a high with clear skies. Sure it's not perfect football weather, but I'll take it over rain any day.

So while all of you are at home watching the Games on TV, remember I'll be hoisting a bottle of water (blech!) to your health up in Lambeau Field.

Week 2 hijinks.

Yesterday Tammi invited the family down to watch football with her and her Sunday Ticket. She even was going to cook stuff I could eat. How could I turn that down? The only thing that would have made it better is if we could have talked the ladies into wearing cheerleader outfits and serving us male folks, but hey I know that will NEVER happen. Unfortunately this was the first time Tammi, Harvey and TNT got to see me in football mode. Ktreva and the boys have seent his many times in the past.

There I am in her house in a nice quiet small community. Her windows were open so that the cool September air could keep us cool. She has a nice spread set out and there I sat on the Golden Throne with remote in hand. A glass of Glenmorangie 10 year in my other hand and I’m talking in a normal and respectable manner (for me). Then it happens, a play, a big play. A play that involves either my team or a player I have on a fantasy team, and any ounce of respectability dies and my voice carries across the valley.

Such terms as:

“Run! Run you magnificent black man you!”

“For the love of Pete, just let Colston get a touchdown!”

“F@#$ Toomer!”

“Give the ball to Colston already!”

“Run faster, run like you stole it!”

“DAMMIT! That’s not Colston!”

“F@#$ Brees!”

“Eli, Archie doesn’t love you anymore. Peyton gets all of daddy’s love.”

“Is Colston even playing?!?!”

There were many more, but I just wanted to give you a sample. The best part was that since the windows were open my voice had to have carried out of the house and Tammi’s poor neighbors had to have heard most of them. I think I just took her fine respectable reputation down a couple of notches.

The sadest thing is that I was holding back.

Week 1 down.

After the first week of the NFL season I want to share some observations and opinions with everyone.

There were some really good games and some that were really one sided. The Packer game was a good close game that I thought was interesting to watch. It was a strong defensive game, the type I like. Plus the Packers won, which always makes it a good game. The Bears Vs Chargers game started off good, but turned bad in the second half when San Diego started running off with the game. I think it was due to the fact that the offense could not hold onto the ball and that the defense was getting worn down being hammered on by LT and Gates. However Grossman performed almost exactly how I thought he would against the Chargers. Now Bear fans take solace in this; it’s only week one and the Chargers are a tough team.

What is up with the running backs this week? Other than Addai in Indianapolis, most of them put up dismal yardage. If they did put up over a hundred yards, they didn’t score. It’s almost as if every team in the NFL decided to forgo the ground game and stick to the air. Is it because defenses are stacking against the ground? Maybe they are preparing for an onslaught of rushing all season and that’s how every team except New Orleans built their defense.

Speaking of sticking to the air, what the hell is up with all the QB’s that got 4 or more touchdowns in one game? Brady, Romo, Rothlesberger, Eli and Peyton Manning. That’s not even including the four QBs that are going to be playing tonight! Potentially there is a chance of adding a couple more names to that list. Usually if you get a QB that scores that many touch downs, it’s only one maybe two a week. It is NOT five or more that sling the pigskin for the touchdowns.

I’m wondering what is going to happen with the obviously horribly missed off sides against the Bears that wasn’t called. It was clear that the Bear’s defensive tackle, Tommie Harris was off sides and possibly encroachment when he forced the goal line fumble of Philip Rivers. But none of the officials called it.

We have two more games tonight and then it’s on to week two.

Oh, it's go time for Football!

Pool sheets printed, Fantasy Teams rosters printed, stat books on the ready and tip sheets loaded. 10 pounds of meat, buns, condiments, snacks all ready to go. A couple of gallons of water chilling (Because I can't drink Beer!) Ktreva has hung her "We put this marriage on hold for Packer Season" sign up. It can only mean one thing.

IT'S OPENING WEEKEND FOR NFL FOOTBALL!!!!

Yea, I'm a little excited. I'm getting ready to head over to Bruce's house for a kick off Sunday party. I haven't been this excited since the Raptor's Season started last April.

Weird Football!

Football season is right around the corner, and there are a lot of people I know that are gearing up for it. There are also a lot of fantasy football leagues starting or started and people are really getting gung ho over the whole thing. I thought this little NSFW (no nudity, just hard to explain) video would help celebrate the soon to be opening regular season of NFL football.

Yea, Weird Science for the football fanatic.

Join the Football Fun!

Folks it’s that time of year again for my annual Pro Football Pick’ems and Salary Cap Football league. If you are interested in playing and didn’t get an invite already, leave a comment and I’ll send you one. Maybe you don’t want to play, but you know someone that would, let them know. I’ll be more then happy to let anyone play. The more the merrier.

It’s completely free, you don’t have to pay for anything and if you take first place, you get a prize of nominal value for the team of your choice. But the big thing is that it’s for fun and bragging rights.

See if you can make the leader board

Raptor's season is officially over.

The Raptors lost last night and they lost badly. It wasn’t even a close game. This was the worst played and coached game I’ve seen all year. I don’t know what was going on, but something didn’t seem right. Some players really put their all into it. They really tried and were frustrated during the game, other players just seemed to let it go. Some of the coaching decisions were really suspect. I’m not saying there was any impropriety by some of the coaches and players, but during and after the game there were a lot of angry players, coaching staff and fans with contacts making statements.

All I know is that Mayor Morrissey is now going to be able to really start on the renovations to the MetroCentre like he wanted.

My Team.

Last night’s draft has come and gone. I didn’t do as well as I had hoped. Then again I could have done much worse Here is my line up:

QBs: Donovan McNabb PHI,
Matt Hasselbeck SEA
RBs: Steven Jackson STL, Willis McGahee BAL,
Deuce McAllister NO
WRs: Deion Branch SEA, Plaxico Burress NYG, Margues Colston NO,
Greg Jennings GB
K: Jason Elam DEN,
Jason Hanson DET
Defense: Jaquars

We’ll see how this season plays out.

FOOTBALL!!!!!!

It's a football weekend for me! Tonight I have the draft for a Fantasy Football league that I joined. I'm kind of excited as this is the first time I've done a league like this. Usually I just do my SalCap and Pool. Which will be coming soon as soon as Yahoo! opens it up. But this year BlogSpawn Bruce started an NFL fantasy league and asked me to join. My goal is to not lose ever week.

Then tomorrow night is the first of the Raptor's Playoff games. Good times, good times! Tomorrow I will start holding court at Carlyle Brew Pub at about 3:00 PM, any and all that would like to join me are more then welcome to. We'll be there until approximately 6:30 PM. Good beer, and me... what more could you want?

Anyway I'm really ready for some good football, and it looks like it's going to be starting for me in just about 3 hours.

The whole thing is for the dogs.

There has been a lot of flack for Michael Vick (Atlanta Falcon’s QB) for his indictment in the dog-fighting incident that took place on his property. On the radio, in the news, on blogs people have been condemning him for being involved in all of this. They don’t even hear his side, they are just ready to put the shoe on the other foot and feed him to the dogs.

Vick on the other hand is denying any knowledge of the incidents and involvement with it. Whether this is true or not I don’t know, all I do know is this: An indictment is not proof of guilt. It’s just a formal accusation of having committed a criminal offense, usually felony level. The prosecutor has to prove to a Grand Jury that there is enough evidence to bring the case to trial. At least that is how it is in Illinois.

There are numerous cases where people have been indicted of a crime and been found not guilty. Until this whole thing goes to trial and a verdict is given, I’m reserving my judgment. I’m not saying he’s innocent, I’m not saying if he was involved it is okay. All I’m saying is that I’m going to wait for the legal system to find him guilty or not before I crucify the man and demand that his career be destroyed.

This is America, and the last time I checked we are still innocent until proven guilty.

Last game of the season.

The Raptors won Saturday night. It was a great game; we had a lot of fun. If you missed it, it’s your loss. The best thing is that we have secured home field advantage through out the playoffs, and if we make it the United Bowl AND the Sioux Fall Storm don’t make it, the United Bowl will be held here in Rockford. That would rock!

The sad thing is that this was the last regular season home game until next season. I’m going to miss my regular trips to Carlisle Brewery, my fellow fans at the game, and the after game parties with the players. Sure, I have the play offs… but it’s just not the same. As I told my regular waitresses at Carlisle that this was the last home game, and that meant I wasn’t going to be coming in as often, they told me I needed to make an excuse to stop by anyway. It was a general agreement of the people at my table; Ktreva would not like me saying I had to go to Carlisle to visit with Cougar and Kitten.

T1G used my other ticket at the game. He appeared to have a lot of fun. Although he did complain that the horn I use to distract the opposing team was loud and annoying. Not just to the team, but to him and the rest of the fans as well. Then he would add on, “but it’s awesome.” Of course at the end of the night my voice was still intact while his was starting to give out. Yea, I might be blowing a loud and annoying horn, but he was screaming his fool head off. Although our chanting to the opposing team players they suck was amusing. We did have to give one of them props though, we singled him out and he just waved and said, “Yeah, baby!”

All in all, it was a great time. Now we just need to not lose in the playoffs.

Raptors last stand.

Tonight is the Rock River Raptors last regular season home game. It’s a must win for us. We have two games and a by week left in regular season. Currently we are sitting atop of the division with a 9-4 record, but River City is right behind us with a 7-5 record and Lexington a 7-6 record. Tonight we play Lexington. If we win tonight we pretty much clinch the division. If we lose, then we have to beat Sioux Falls next week at home in hopes of winning the division. The problem is that Sioux Falls is on a 32 game wining streak and sitting atop the other division.

That means that tonight’s game should be a good hard-hitting game. So any of you football fans out there want to go have some fun, tonight at the MetroCentre is your chance.

I’m not saying that the Raptors and their organization listen to me or that I have any influence with them. But I do think they like fans like Bruce and myself. We really get the crowd involved. So occasionally they like to throw a little something back our way. Like last week. During half time the Dynomites did a zombie themed dance routine to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Football and zombies, how perfect is that?

Football and Phones.

What a wild and fun weekend for me. First off I would like to take this time to apologize to anyone that received a phone call from me between the hours of 8:00PM and 2:00AM CST. If you couldn’t tell, I was not quite functioning at full mental capacity. I really lost count of how much I had drank early on in the night. I don’t blame anyone else for my actions; it was completely my own fault. Next time I need to remember to not listen to T1G when he states that I need to “keep up with him” and that “I’m one behind.” So yes, I am truly sorry. We are going to invest in a drunk phone for me next time. The one that has the built in Breathalyzer so that you can’t drunken dial.

Other then that, Friday night was a blast. After work Ktreva and I went to the Rock River Raptor’s Season ticket holders party. I know they tried, but the party was pretty dead. Almost no one showed up other then the players and people associated with the organization. It was held outside in the heat… and they only served Bud, Bud Light and Corona. BLECH! We hung around for a while, but when we saw the party wasn’t going to get any better we left. Since we had a babysitter for the night, Ktreva didn’t want to go home. She wanted to hit the town. The problem was we couldn’t agree on were to go. She wanted to hit a bar. The problem was finding a bar that I would be comfortable in, but would also take my wife to. Most of the bars I tend to like are a little on the rougher side. Thus we ended up at Fritz’. Now I wasn’t positive T1G was going to be there, but well… yea I was pretty sure. Ktreva made the comment. “Great you guys are going to be talking all night and ignoring me.” I told her to call Tammi and tell her to come down. At this point she says, “I don’t have my phone.” FINE! So I call Tammi for her. And of course upon answering the phone I’m accused of drunk dialing. I explain the situation, and Tammi agrees to head down there as well. Flash-forward to a night filled with Day-glo green drinks, Tabasco in beer, and my ultimately delving into drunk dialing.

Saturday night I went with Bruce and our friend KF on the Rock River Raptor bus trip to Bloomington. Folks, this was well worth the price of the ticket. On the bus they supplied sandwiches, chips and fee beer and water. However the beer was Bud and Bud Light. Now I can’t fault them the beer. The local Bud distributor sponsors them, and apparently they are very generous. That’s okay; Bruce and I brought our own beer. For the bus trip I’m going to give some high lights.

-Bloomington’s stadium is awesome. They have a really nice set up with corporate sponsors. They have a Leinie Lodge, a Jack Daniel’s VIP section as well as a corporation that bought the rights to the stadium. There is an in stadium pro-shop and a jumbotron with instant replay. Their concessions were better quality and at about the same price range. Their seats have cup holders… NO SPILLED BEERS!

-Apparently when I get upset and am drinking I swear. Also apparently if I do this with Bruce around the angry parents of little kids will blame him.

-On road trips I do become “That Fan”. You know, the one that is really loud and cheering his team on, even after getting threatening looks from the home team fans. Either that or Bruce was swearing again.

-The best part about our seats was the fact that we were sitting with some of the player’s families. Blue Aldridge’s uncle was right behind us and he was just as fevered about the game as we were.

-The Raptors won by a point. Yes one point, which made this a very exciting and good game. Of course a missed PAT and short field goal doesn’t help. (I’m watching the placeholder for the next couple of games.

-Tom Crow, the Raptors GM, seems to be an actual nice guy. I’ve spoken with him on a couple occasions. He rode on the bus back from the game with us. We got to spend some time talking to him, and shooting off some ideas and what not. He seemed to take everything we said into consideration. Not that I actually expect him to listen to us, but he was cool about it. Especially since I kept calling him Tim. For the love of me I don’t know why I couldn’t get his name right. I actually started calling him Tim-Tom at one point as I tried to correct myself. He didn’t blow us off. During the ride back, I got a little hungry and Bruce grabbed the three remaining bags of Cheetos from the back of the bus. At that point Bruce kept calling me Cheeto and saying, “Good times Cheeto.” Tom Updates the Raptors site and in his brief post, Raptors Defeat Extreme he ends it with, “Also, a big “Thank You” goes out to our first official Fan Bus Trip of the season… Good Times Cheeto…” I'd like to the post itself, but the way the site is set up, I can't.

-I guess I should mention that my sister lives down there and is a Bloomington Extreme (yes, their team name sucks… extremely) fan. So I was able to see her. And harass her about the guy she brought with… and rub it in after the game that we won…

All in all it was a great time. For those of you that missed it, you missed a lot of fun. Just remember the next time they do a bus trip, you might want to jump on and just enjoy life a little more.

Calling all football fans!

On June 16 the Rock River Raptors play the Bloomington Extreme (Yea, their name sucks). This will be the third time we play the Extreme this season. We have a 1-1 record against them this season with our overtime loss last weekend. This is playing out to be an important game for us to win the division and to be a good close game.

The Raptors are planning a fan bus trip from Rockford to the game. They are charging $50.00 for anyone that wants to go on the bus. The price includes a round trip bus ticket, food and beverage on the bus and a ticket to the game. I am going to this game, so I’m jumping on the chance to take the bus. It saves me money just in gas alone, plus I don’t have to worry about the two hour drive. Throw in the food and the ticket to the game, this really is a steal.

The problem is that they only have 50 spots available; they need at least 30 people in order to make the trip happen. Including me they currently have 10 people signed up. If you live in or around the Rockford area, love football, and want to have good time, I’m telling you, jump on this opportunity. Plus we really want to support the home time at what is playing out to be a crucial game. We all know how much fan support can really help a team play.

So if you are interested in going, call 815-965-7000 and sign up for the bus trip. Not only will you be able to go see a great game and have a lot of fun, but you get to hang out with me! That in itself should be worth $50.00!

Football Fun.

WHAT A NIGHT! Normally before the Raptor games I go to Carlyle Brewing company to do some tailgating since you aren’t allowed to tailgate in the city limits. Yesterday since we decided to go to the Raptors sponsored tailgate party. They had a VIP section for season ticket holders. Since they were going to do something nice for us, I figured I should go check it out. Well we did and to be honest I wasn’t all that impressed.

When we arrived at the park we had to go through the security shake down. Fine, I can understand that, but they really should get a security guy that is familiar with what Illinois licenses look like and their renewal processes. He was completely thrown off by Ktreva’s and my license. To quote him, “I’ve never seen a renewal sticker for a license before.” Which is sad, because I got my renewal sticker 4 years ago.

You couldn’t just buy beer or food; you had to buy tickets in order to get beer or food. Depending on what you where getting depended on how many tickets you needed. Well, I don’t know how much I’m going to need in advance, and there is only one place to get tickets, which wasn’t by the beer or food tent. Thus many trips back and forth to get tickets.

They stated the tailgating was going to start at 4:00 with food and drink. Well they had Bud, Bud light and Bud Select (Bleh to all three). The food wasn’t ready until almost 5:30. The VIP section was supposed to have it so we didn’t need to wait in line with everyone else to get food and drink. The drink wasn’t a problem, food however caused quite a bit of commotion.

They had a live band for everyone to enjoy, the band was name Ten Times Better. Well to steel a line from Ktreva, “Just about any other band would have been ten times better”. It may have been the sound system they where using or the mixing board, but they didn’t sound good at all. All in all I pretty much decided I’m not going to back to their tailgating party again unless there is a band I really want to here. IE I know someone playing in the band.

The game itself rocked. Unfortunately we lost. But I did get another game ball. My favorite player, Jeremiah Thompson scored a pair of touchdowns. After his second touchdown he came over and threw me the ball he scored with. Then after the game I stuck around to get him to autograph it.

And that’s how I got kicked out of the MetroCentre. They set up these tables for all the players and the Dynomites (Cheerleaders) to sit at. They had a line for people to walk down the row of tables so each person can autograph something. Well I didn’t want everyone’s autograph, just Thompson’s and he was in the second to last spot. After waiting for 30 minutes just to get onto the field, and the line was moving slowly, I asked a guy if I could just run over and get Thompson’s. He told me he couldn’t let me do that and then he said we probably won’t get anything signed anyway because they have to close in 20 minutes and the line wasn’t moving fast at all.

When he walked away I turned to Ktreva and Boopie. I told them to stay in line, I was going to go get Thompson’s autograph when a break in the line got to him. Quickly I ran over handed him the ball and said, “Thompson, sign this before they kick me out.” As soon as he started signing it, two security guys came running over, “Sir, we can’t have you cut in the line like this we’re going to have to ask…” Me, “No problem, I just wanted his autograph on the ball he scored a TD with. I’m out of here.” Thompson gave me the ball back and I was escorted off the field. Ktreva and Boopie left the line and we headed home.

I did have a great time and I’m looking forward to the next game in a couple of weeks. This morning I have no voice. So for those of you expecting a phone call from me today, it’s not going to happen.

So excited!

Tomorrow is a big day. I’ve been counting the days for a while now in anticipation. Now I could tell you that tomorrow is important because it’s Clone’s birthday, and I guess that wouldn’t be wrong. But that’s not why I’m so excited. Tomorrow is the first day of football season!

Wait, did I say football season? Yes I did. The Rock River Raptors have their first game tomorrow night. I bought my season tickets again this year, the same incredible seats I had last year. Now I know some people say that Arena football is not real football. They would be wrong. Sure the field is shorter and there are fewer players on the field, but they hit just as hard, if not harder. Remember they are playing on lightly padded concrete and constantly are run into walls and flipped into the stands. These guys get hit so hard that you can feel it in the stands. A lot of these players played college ball or are trying to get into the NFL. They work hard and trust me; they are worthy of the respect that should go toward any athlete.

I’ve completely thrown myself onto the Raptor bandwagon. Well, it is only their second season in Rockford and I’ve had season tickets, best seats in the house if you ask me, for both seasons. I’ve bought jerseys, shirts, hats, etc. I’ve even bought Ktreva and the boys various Raptor gear. I’m even getting a custom made Jersey this year. They changed their jersey style and I wanted to get one of my favorite player’s jerseys… so I did. I’ve completely thrown myself into the Raptor camp.

So tomorrow night at this time, I’ll be in the stands getting ready for kick off. What are you going to be doing? If you’re in the area, I’d suggest heading to the MetroCentre and watching the game. It’s well worth the price of admission.

Payback for cheering for the Bears.

I generally don’t talk about money on here, because I really don’t have any serious money problems. So my pissing and moaning about would just be stupid. I’m doing pretty well, I’m not bad off and I enjoy my lifestyle. So my bitching about not having the funds to spend a weekend with the wife in some secluded space just seems insulting to those that might have real financial concerns.

But not today, today I’m going to bitch about it, why? Because I have some pretty big expenses coming up, things that I need to pay and I am not about to start financing. Plus some things I can’t finance. I’m not worried as I have been saving all year and have the money to cover these expenses. So why am I going to start bitching about money?

I received a letter in the mail today. A very important letter. Maybe even the most important letter of my life. This is the kind of letter a lot of people hope to receive. Upon opening the mailbox I saw a letter with the official logo of the Green Bay Packers. It was thick, and very official looking. I was nervous as I thought I knew what this was. It was the notification that I was eligible for Packer Season Tickets.

I about had a mild coronary

The holy grail of tickets. The waiting list for these bad boys is legendary. They span generations. Then I looked at the price I was expected to pay and the first thing I thought was…. I could max a couple of credit cards. Then I thought I could not have that work done on the house I’ve been saving for. Finally I thought; I could sell one of the boys on the black market. Nope, I couldn’t do any of that. Between the seat tax and the rest of the expenses that go with it, there is almost no way I can afford these this year. Hell, I have to send in my letter saying I’m interested with $500.00 per seat as a deposit by the end of the month, and I may not even get the seats. But I would get the deposit back. But there is no way I would be able to pony up the money by the time the deadline was due if I got the tickets.

So I did the only thing I could think of, I called my father. He’s a bigger Packer fan then I am. I’m trying to talk him into going halvsies with me.

An Apology.

I would like to take a moment and offer my condolences to all of the Bear fans out there. Yesterday, I really did pull for the Bears and wanted them to win. Due to a bet, I even wore a Grossman jersey. Now it was told to me that I could use said jersey to wipe the beer, pickled herring, boneless hot wings, barbeque lil’ smokie’s and more beer shite from my arse after Grossman’s performance on the field. In fact I believe what was said is, “When I get that back I want big long brown streaks running all over the number 8. Then I’m going to frame it as a reminder.”

Tempting as that was, I did not do it. Not because it would be disgusting and not because I wouldn’t have enjoyed doing it. I just figured the Bear fans had suffered enough trauma and did not need nor really want to see that.

Bear Fan’s, trust me; I know how it feels when your team looses the Super Bowl. Back in 98 when the Packer’s lost to the Bronco’s, I felt pretty crappy. Sure, I justified it by saying that John Elway deserved to win… But so did the Packers! And that pain lasted for a while. But let me assure you that it does fade after time. You won’t forget, but you will start to forgive those that didn’t play up to their potential. Well most of them anyway.

So Bear fans, I truly am here to help you all out in any way possible. But I must confess something to all of you. On Friday it was told to me by some very loyal Bear Fans that my rooting for the Bears could be the kiss of death, since I’m a die-hard Packer fan. I think they may be right. I think that as a die-hard Packer fan, my embracing our archrivals may have caused a rift in fabric of luck and jinxed the Bears to lose. That and I haven’t accurately picked a Super Bowl winner for 7 years now.

Sorry.

Time to watch the Super Bowl!

The big question is, who will win? Being in northern Illinois, the Bear fans in abundance, including the bandwagon boys, are all declaring that the Bears have already won. I want the Bears to win; I’m rooting for the Bears to win. I just don’t know if they will.

So my question to all of you is, who will win? Can the Bears great defense stop the Colts great offense? I’m curious as to what everyone’s predictions are. I’m thinking 27-24 Bears.

What’s your prediction?

Mad Hate for the Bears.

There has been a lot of speculation and opinion in the local media lately regarding the upcoming Super Bowl. It’s not what you are thinking it’s for either. Sure the local team, the Chicago Bears, made it to the Super Bowl. They aren’t talking about “Are the Bears going to win”, nope it’s all “The Bears are going to win”. What they are spending all this time discussing is, “Can a true Packer Fan cheer for the Bears to win the Super Bowl.” Yea, our local media is really on top of those important issues.

This topic has made it on the evening news a couple of times. It’s all over the radio, and it even was a headline in the local Newspaper. I’ll admit that I’ve even had this conversation with fellow Packer, Viking, Lions, Bear and even Rams fans, and I’ve discovered one thing. There is a lot of hate between fans of a team and opposing teams in their division/region. Before I go any further, I’m a Packer fan as you may all have realized by now. I have been since the early 80’s. They are my team of choice and I support them. The thought of picking a different favorite team has never crossed my mind.

I’m rooting for the Bears this Sunday, GO BEARS!

Why? Because they are from the same division the Packers are. They are part of the NFC North, the once NFC Central, the true Black and Blue division. The one that has two of the most historic teams in the NFL, the Packers and the Bears. Once the Packers were eliminated from the playoffs, (which honestly should have been long before the last weekend of the season… what right does an 8-8 team have being in the playoffs?) I started pulling for the Bears. They represent the division my team is in. They carry with them the honor and the tradition that both my beloved Packers and the Bears have so valiantly fought for over the years. I have no animosity toward the team, and since my team is obviously not in the big game, why shouldn’t I root for them?

Well, apparently I am the only person in the whole damned country that feels that way. Every Packer, Lion, Viking and Ram fan I talked to said, “Hell no I’m not rooting for the Bears, I’m pulling for the Colts!” Some of them used much stronger language then that. Every Bear fan I talked to made a comment along the lines, “When the Packers went to the Super Bowl I rooted for New England and/or Denver.” Again some used much stronger language then that. Okay, a lot of them used much stronger language then that. There was a lot of hate there. Which, I just can’t understand.

I love my team, but damn… they aren’t there! I’d rather see a respected rival win it then some AFC team with a media whore QB that will put his likeness or image on anything for a buck (And also has a tendency to choke in the big games). Yea the Bears handed the Pack their arses opening weekend, but we returned the favor on New Years… maybe not as bad, but we still did. Plus if the Bears win I can always hold onto, “Yea the Bears won the Super Bowl, but even the Packers could beat them that year.”

I just can’t understand how my fellow Packer fans can’t be magnanimous about this like myself. If the Packers aren’t in the Super Bowl and another team from the NFC north makes it, I shall cheer for them.

Unless it’s the Vikings, then they can burn in hell those rotten sons of goats!

Tailgating, denied!

This is unconscionable. The NFL is prohibiting tailgating at the Super Bowl. That’s right, they have banned tailgating.

"There is no tailgating allowed in the Dolphin Stadium parking lots," Sue Jaquez, a member of the Super Bowl XLI Host Committee, confirmed on Tuesday. "And there is no tailgating anywhere within a one-mile radius of the stadium." "And there are no RVs allowed."

Now, this isn’t something that the Dolphin’s organization did. It’s the NFL.

Tailgating is permitted during regular- and post-season games for Dolphins fans, a team official on Tuesday said it would indeed be allowed at the Super Bowl. According to Jaquez, however, the official has been seriously misinformed.

The Dolphins do not organize and oversee the Super Bowl, Jaquez pointed out. Instead, those duties are left up to NFL officials. And because of security reasons, no pre-game partying on (or very near) the premises will take place. Fans spotted tailgating could face charges, Jaquez said.

Okay, there are some things that are sacred to football, and tailgating is one of them. As many of you know, I’m a huge football fan. Heck, my obsession with football can almost be labeled as unhealthy. With that being said, the NFL is starting to piss me off. First with their stunt of moving games to Thursday night and only showing them on their network. Now this.

I have to stick up for my NFC central rival fans. I know that if my team was going to the Superbowl, I had tickets and wasn’t allowed to tailgate; I’d be pretty damned pissed off. Bears fans that make it to the game are being denied the joy and pleasure of tailgating at the most important game of the year. The tradition of tailgating is almost a sacred thing, and especially if your team is in the big game. To take away that tradition would be like having the Fourth of July without fireworks, Christmas without presents, Thanksgiving without turkey or St. Patrick’s Day without green beer! Time honored traditions them all.

I’m wondering how they are going to enforce no tailgating within a one-mile radius of the stadium. I mean seriously, the NFL may have jurisdiction over what can be done on the stadium grounds, but once you get off the stadium property, they have no authority. Did the city of Miami and Miami-Dade county officials approve this as well? I mean, you would think this would be an enforcement nightmare. Then again the officials are probably bending over and taking it from the NFL just so they can host the Super Bowl. I’m not sure how the Dolphin’s Stadium is set up, but if I lived with in that mile radius, I think I’d be having a big arse BBQ that day. Just to see what they did, or tried to handle it.

So NFL, shame on you! Shame on you for once again giving your fans the shaft!

Paying off a bet.

The Bears won the NFC championship. This means that after 16 years I have to fulfill a bet. Many years ago Graumagus and I made a bet regarding the Bears and the Packers. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I can’t find the post. Anyway the bet that was made way back in the early 90’s was: If the Packers make it to the Super Bowl, then Grau has to wear a Packer shirt. If the Bears make it to the Super Bowl, I have to wear a Bear’s shirt.” The now extinct Frizzen Sparks (It’s gone folks, I’m not bothering to link to a 404 page.) had a post on it. I just happened to have a copy of it.

Once opon a time, there were two football fans.

One was a lifelong Bears fan.

One was a lifelong Packers fan.

Regardless of this, they became lifelong friends, even resulting in the rare event of the Bears fan being best man at the Packer fan’s wedding.

Long ago, they made a bet. More of an arrangement, actually.

If one’s team made it to the Superbowl, during the game the other fan would be required to wear team gear of that team. IE: If the Packers were in the big one, the Bears fan would be wearing green and gold.

If you haven’t already guessed, I’m talking about Contagion (Packers fan) and myself (Bears fan).

And, yes, I’ve already had to wear the uniform of the enemy. Twice. .

Now here is where it gets interesting...
The Packers have some fucked up fan gear. You’ve probably seen examples.
Cheese wedge hats, cheese bricks, cheese cowboy hats, cheese baseball caps, cheese ties, cheese bricks for hurling at the TV, etc. Contagion has said that if the Packers make it to the Superbowl, the bastard is going to make me wear a cheese bra. A Cheese-Fucking-BRA. I told him it may be the first time I ever welch on a bet.
I was wrong. I’ve been thinking on it, and I can’t. I cannot welch on a bet, it’s almost an obsessive/compulsive thing with me. It’s why I don’t make bets lightly.
So here’s how it is, if the Pack gets to the Superbowl, not only will I wear the fucking bra, I’ll do it sans shirt in all my pasty, hairy beergut, lard-assed glory, and I’ll post pics (I’ll be nice and do it in extended entry, to avoid making any readers out there go blind).

How’s THAT for honoring a goddamn bet? With the Packer’s secondary the way it is, I’m not too worried, but I will still honor “The Bet” And I’m STILL not going to root for the goddamn Vikings. There are just some things a man won’t stoop to.

This post was made January 5, 2005. The Packers ended up losing to the Vikings. Thus we never did find out if Grau would or would not wear the infamous Cheese Bra. He also has one piece of misinformation in there. He actually did welch on the bet the year Green Bay went to Super Bowl 32. He felt that it wasn’t fair that he had to wear Green Bay gear two years back to back, I let him slide too… with the caveat that I get to slide one year.

Now of course that means that I could get out of it this year and not have to wear a Bear shirt during the game. However, since the Bears making it to the Super Bowl only happens once every twenty years, I figured I would live up to the bet. So on Super Bowl Sunday I will have to sully my reputation by wearing that ugly Blue and Orange.

Worst announcers.

It’s snowing again! YAY! I love the snow. It’s fun to drive and play in; it just makes for great fun.

That and the Saints/Bears game is today, and if it’s snowing here, that means it is snowing at Soldier field. We get to see some real football today. Football wasn’t meant to be played in a dome or just in warm weather. No, football was meant to be played out in the elements, the cold, the snow, the wind and rain. Fans huddling together for warmth and Tony Siragusa steeling heaters from the players to warm his own sideline-reporting arse.

That reminds me I need to start the voting for the Worst Announcer/Reporter of the season award. If you would like to make any nominations, please do so in the comments. Make sure to give me the correct spelling of their name AND the reason why you think they are the worst. Right now the three that I have in mind are:

Tony Kornheiser AKA Cornholer (ESPN Monday Night football) for his complete and utter lack of being able to talk football and actually comment on the game. This guy gets so off track that I’m convinced he had someone else doing his analysis for his other shows that weren’t live.

Bryant Gumble on the NFL networks Thursday Night Games for his utter non-sense he spouts off during the games and his inaccurate information. During the Packer game he actually said something like, “The Packers are 0 and 7 for penalties tonight” then two sentences later he said, “This is the Packers second penalty of the night.” Both referring to the same penalty.

Finally the above-mentioned Tony Siragusa (FOX Sports) for his utter banality and annoying reporting during the games. Although he did prove to be amusing when they showed him moving a heater away from a player so he could warm himself. I know Tony; the game is all about you.

One and done?

I would just like to take this time to extend an olive branch to the Bears and the Bear fans out there. Good luck in the game today, hopefully you do well. Remember you are now representing the NFC North and I expect you to uphold the fine tradition of the true Black and Blue Division.

But just in case, I want to prepare you for the worst-case scenario.

Remember, this was their last game, and Rex (Wrecks?) Grossman seems to like to bend over for the opponent.

Now I’m off to go shooting.

(Thanks to I Hate My Cubicle(NSFW) for the photo)

Standings.

The 2006 NFL regular season is over. That means that my Pro Football Pick’em and Salary Cap Football league is over. That brings me to won what.

Pro Football Pick’em

Salary Cap Football

I will have to give special mention to T1G for his efforts in both leagues. Taking second in both is a notable accomplishment. I’m interested to see how he does next year.

Sexy Ladies Wanted

The Dyno-mites (Rock River Raptor's Cheerleaders Dance Team) is looking for dancers.

We’re looking for attractive, multi-talented women in the state line area to represent our organization. To audition for the Dynomite Cheerleaders you must be a high school graduate and between 18-30. Selections to the group will be based on personality, poise, athleticism and dance ability.

WHEN: Sunday, January 28th 10:00a - 4:00p
*Registration begins at 10:00am sharp

WHERE: Holiday Inn, 7550 East State Street, Rockford, IL 61108
*Auditions will be held on the lower level in room AB

Directions: From I-90 W; Take the STATE ST/US-20 BUSINESS exit. Take the ramp towards ROCKFORD. Hotel is located at the intersection of E. State and Bell school rd.

BRING: Recent full-body length photo. Plenty of water and a lunch

REQUIRED ATTIRE: A two-piece form-fitted outfit is mandatory.
Hair must be worn down (no clips or ponytails). Dance or athletic shoes

COST: $20 non-refundable application fee. Please have check or exact change.

*Applications are available online at www.raptorsuif.com or at the door!
*If you have additional questions call our office 815 965-7000 or email Jen at dynomites@raptorsuif.com

I can think of some pretty sexy lady bloggers out there that could try out!

Would it be creepy if I went to watch? What? I watched the team try-outs. It's for the same reason, I want to see the athletic prowess of the people trying out.

Screwing the fans.

A couple of years ago the NFL started playing with the starting times of their games. They would move a noon game to 3:15, just for better media coverage. That really burned me one year when my Father, Boopie and I had tickets to see the Packer Jacksonville game.

When we bought them, it was a noon game. The week before we went to see them it became a 3:15 game. This annoyed me as the reason we wanted the noon game was so we could drive up, see the game and get back with enough time so we weren’t rushed.
We weren’t rushed before the game because we had a hotel room for Saturday night. After the game, we had to run to the vehicle, hop and drive like madmen home. It annoyed me, I bought those tickets because I wanted a noon game and they moved it on me.

This year the NFL decided that during week ten they would start a flex schedule. They would pick one game slated for earlier in the day and put it on Sunday night. Why? Better TV ratings, if the game was more exciting or important more people would watch. Thus they would get better ratings AND advertisers would spend more to put their commercials on during that time. There’s only one problem. They where screwing the people that had tickets and the ones that made plans based on start times of certain games.

Lets take this weekend for example. The Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers were scheduled for noon on New Years Eve. Being a Packer fan and living in Northern Illinois, I know there where a lot of people that were making plans around this game. Hell even I invited some people over to watch the game before my regular New Years celebrating started. Four different people I know bought tickets to the game back in June based on a noon start time. They where going to go to the game, and then come back and spend New Years Eve with friends and family.

Now the NFL moved the game until 7:00PM New Years Eve. Two of the people
I know that have tickets are being forced to sell them. They don’t have anyone that can watch their kid while they go to the game. It’s New Years Eve, most people have plans and no one else wants to cancel their plans for them. Then the other two are thinking of selling theirs because they have younger children that they want to spend New Years Eve with.

Other people I know have to choose now between watching the game or doing their planned activities. Not all places have a TV where they can watch the game. Me, well I don’t care what anyone else does, I’m watching the game. As long as the people in the party don’t block the TV, they can live with me watching the game while they do other things. I’m more annoyed at the fact that I had planned on having some friends over to watch the game, and now they wont be coming because they have other plans. It irritates me that the NFL has sold out their fans that pay for tickets for corporate sponsors that want advertising. I’m down right pissed off that they have no regard for people that pay good money to see the game.

I can honestly say that I won’t ever buy a ticket for a game during the flex weeks again. I’d say that I would boycott football during the same time, but I know I won’t. Although my boycott of Monday Night Football has been pretty easy.

Rock River Raptors 2007!

They finally announced the 2007 schedule for the Rock River Raptors. Yea, the NFL season isn’t even over with and I’m already excited. Probably because I have season tickets for these guys!

SAT MARCH 24 SIOUX FALLS STORM
FRI MARCH 30 BLOOMINGTON EXTREME
SAT APRIL 7 BYE
SAT APRIL 14 EVANSVILLE BLUECATS
SAT APRIL 21 RIVER CITY RAGE
SAT APRIL 28 LEXINGTON HORSEMEN
SAT MAY 5 OHIO VALLEY GREYHOUNDS
SAT MAY 12 LEXINGTON HORSEMEN
SAT MAY 19 RIVER CITY RAGE
FRI MAY 25 BLOOMINGTON EXTREME
SAT JUNE 2 OHIO VALLEY GREYHOUNDS
SAT JUNE 9 EVANSVILLE BLUECATS
SAT JUNE 16 BLOOMINGTON EXTREME
SAT JUNE 23 OHIO VALLEY GREYHOUNDS
SAT JUNE 30 LEXINGTON HORSEMEN
SAT JULY 7 SIOUX FALLS STORM
SAT JULY 14 BYE

All home games are listed in bold with kickoff at 7:05 p.m. local time.

Enough with ESPN.

All right, I’ve had it. You all know I love my football, but I’ve given up on Monday Night Football. There is no way I can watch the games anymore. It has nothing to do with the games; it’s the damn announcing. Al Michaels and John Madden used to annoy me with there ranting, but at least it would pertain to football. Joe Theismann, Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser (Henceforth known as Kornholer) will babble on about anything that trips their triggers.

They even bring on guests to interview DURING the game that have nothing to do with football. They talk over plays and then have to go back to get a recap of what happened. When they do try to provide insight it’s like listening to most women talk about the game with men wearing tight pants.* It’s usually stuff that everybody knows or has just seen on the screen. They drive me nuts. I’d rather listen to Clone try to explain calculus to me than these three blather on.

I’ve tried listening to the radio while the sound is off on the TV. The only problem is that when it shows the three of them yapping like old women, I can hear the plays they are missing. Why bother?!? Thus I’m done. I will no longer watch Monday Night Football until ESPN looses these three or makes them actually announce the game they are at.

I wish the guys the best of luck; hopefully they will get better as time goes on. Oh, and Theismann, break a leg.

*Some women can actually talk football and not sound stupid.

...And let him get a touchdown too!

I’m off to Boopie’s last regular season game of the year. Please, pray for a win. His team is 1-6 and going up against the only team that has a worse record then they do. For some goofy mathematical reason, this game is actually important. If his team wins they will be the 7th place team (out of 8), if they lose they will be the 8th place, ie last, in the conference.

If they win, they actually get into the playoffs. If they lose, they don’t. He’s been taking the loses rather hard, and I would at least like to see him make the playoffs. Plus he has more fun when he wins and I’d like to see him actually enjoy two of their games.

Keep your fingers crossed.

buh-bye now.

The Packers finally got around to releasing Ahmad Carroll. He was our first round draft pick in 2004. It seems that for every play he made, he either blew another or caused a penalty that was costly.

I haven’t liked his performance since he’s been on the team, and he always seemed to be able to drag our team down faster then a cinder block tied to a bag full of kittens thrown into a river. Which is why I’m not sad to see him leave.

Illegal roughness?

What the hell is up with Tennessee’s defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth? This shmuck stomped on Andre Gurode’s helmetless face in yesterdays Titans Vs Cowboys game. During the halftime show of the Bears VS Seahawks debacle (That was almost as bad as the Bears Vs Packers game week 1), Chris Collinsworth stated that Gurode received 30 stitches; nothing I can find confirms it.

People, football is a game. It’s meant to be fun, sure tempers flare and the overpaid children get out of hand sometime. But it’s only a game. This goes above and beyond getting out of hand. This is just down right criminal. This is straight up aggravated battery. Gurode should call the police and file charges. Then he should get a lawyer and sue Haynesworth for damages. According to some of the articles I’ve read, Gurode is damn lucky not to have lost an eye. How the hell could any reasonably intelligent person think stomping on another persons face with spiked shoes was a good idea? Obviously he wasn’t thinking… or maybe he was, I did say reasonably intelligent, maybe Haynesworth isn’t… What would make someone do that? From all accounts, Gurode and Haynesworth never had any words or altercations. Why would anyone just randomly stomp on someone’s head?

What really gets me is that the NFL feels that the punishment for Haynesworth should be a 5 game suspension. True, that is unprecedented.

“That length of suspension represents the biggest on-field disciplinary action in league history. Charles Martin (Green Bay Packers) held the previous high for a suspension, sitting two games for his bodyslam of Bears (“punky�) quarterback Jim McMahon (It still makes me sick he got a Super Bowl ring with the Packers) on Nov. 23, 1986.�

I’m sorry, but that’s not enough. Yes, he’s going to lose $38,014 a game, but he was slated to make $646,251 this year. Well that’s $190,070 that he wont earn, so he’s still going to make $456,181 this year. Excuse me while I don’t feel sorry for him. Now if they said his suspension was going to be in part because he’s serving a 6-month sentence at lock-up, I might feel better. Personally, I think his arse should be banned from the NFL. Blackball him, sure maybe it was a one time incident, but what if the next time he actually takes some guy’s eye out? Plus if the Titans cut him, from history we know that some other team will pick him up.

Some of you may think I’m over reacting. That I’m asking for too much. Let me put it this way, if it was you that just got stomped on in the middle of a game, wouldn’t you want more then to inconvenience the perpetrator? What if someone at your place of business battered you and you needed stitches, would you want more then them getting a 5-day suspension? You’d probably want to see them arrested and fired.

There is no place for this type of action in the NFL. I’m curious what the Dallas head coach Bill Parcels. During the halftime show one of the commentators stated that Parcels told Titan’s Head Coach, Jeff Fisher that if the NFL and Titans didn’t take what he felt was appropriate action, he was going to take the law into his own hands. Now, I haven’t seen anything that confirms that he actually said that. If it’s true, I’d like to see if and what he’s going to do.

As for now Haynesworth joins the list of players for which I have no respect.

It's no longer a game.

For years I’ve been saying that Football is nothing more then a child’s game being played by over paid men. Don’t get me wrong, I love football, and am a little obsessive about it. Okay, I’ve very obsessive about it. My wife wants a sign that says, “We put this marriage on hold for Football Season.� I eat, drink and sleep football from preseason to the pro-bowl. Now that I have arena football for the off-season, there are very few months I don’t think about football. However, I still view it as a game. I don’t get too worked up when my team looses and other then good-natured ribbing, I don’t harass fans from other teams. It’s just a game.

Another thing I’ve been saying for a long time is, “It’s all fun and games until someone looses a spleen.� I’m not sure where I picked it up, but I’ve been saying it for a long time. It’s a take off of the old “It’s all fun and game until someone looses and eye.� But it’s easy to loose an eye, it’s much more difficult to loose a spleen.

Based on those two sayings, I guess football is no longer a game for Chris Simms, the Tampa Bay Buc’s Quarterback. In the game against Carolina yesterday he ruptured his spleen. He left the field for a short period of time, and then returned to play. People, he may have issues as a QB, but you have to respect a man that will play through to pain. This wasn’t a sprain, strain, broken bone or pulled muscle. He ruptured an internal organ. Think about it, that can’t be a pleasant feeling.

My hat’s off to you Chris, and I hope you have a quick and pleasant recovery.

We Win!

Holy cow! The Pack actually won a game!

Packers 31 Detroit 24

Sure it was only against the Detroit Kitties Lions, whom may be one of the handful of teams in the NFL that are worse then Green Bay. I’ll take the win; it’s better to have a win, then to start the season 0-4 again this year. Now we are only 1-2. However, at this rate we are going to end up with a 5-11 season.

Only the Packers...

...could blow a 13 point lead to lose. What the hell!!!!

And as much as it pains me to admit this, if the Bears can keep up their performance for the rest of the season they could make it to the Super Bowl.

But as all Bear fans know, Grossman can only go so many games healthy before he gets hurt. Then it's up to Griese, who has worse knee's then I do.

Now excuse me while I go finish this bottle of Jack Daniel's.

Holy Leathernecks

I don’t follow college football. But I will check out the scores just to see how teams are doing. The only time I actually watch a game is when there is nothing else on. The only exception to this is Western Illinois University. Since it’s my alma mater I tend to keep an eye on how their team is doing. Imagine my surprise yesterday when I looked up the scores and I saw Western Illinois 58, Kentucky Wesleyan 0. Go Leathernecks!

I just hope Green Bay can do so well against New Orleans today.

Damn, it's Tuesday already?

(Climbing out of bottle)

Sorry, it was a long Sunday for me. Good company stopped by to help soak up some alcohol and watch the football games, but damn. It was bad enough having to watch the Green Bay Packers lose to the Bears. Then it got worse when during the third quarter I wasn’t hoping for a win, just for them too score. The fact that I’m watching the game with a Bears fan was just insulting. Then again he was probably the only civilized Bear fan on the planet, most are just assholes, even if I like the bastard. When the Bears made a good play, he’d say something like, “But that was a good tackle by the Packers!�… after cheering.

I retreated to the only refuge I had, the comforting arms of Jack Daniel’s. Jack consoled me and pointed out that we survived the 80’s, and the 90’s we dominated the NFC North/Central. It’s time for other teams to get a chance.

The only consolation I get out of this weekend was that at least it wasn’t the Vikings, and that two other teams did worse then the Pack… Long live the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders for stinking up the gridiron worse then the Packers. Sure it was only by one point more, but it was still worse.

Anyone think the Pack might make it to the Super Bowl this year?

Ready and waiting.

In two hours the NFL regular season starts. The defending Super Bowl champs, Pittsburgh Steelers, take on the Miami Dolphins. This could be an interesting game. The Steelers are with out their glory boy QB Ben Roethlisberger. This may give the Dolphins a much-needed break in tonight’s game to pull off a victory.

As soon as Ktreva gets home from work I’m off to a kick-off party. Hopefully it’s the first of many football parties I’m able to attend this year. So if you haven’t made your picks or roster changes yet, you have slightly less than two hours to make them.

Boopie's big game.

Boopie had his first football game last night. He had aspirations of being a running back; at this time the coaches have him playing special teams. He’s on the kicking teams, both kicking and returns. He’s not a kicker; he’s one of the blockers/defenders. He’s a little disappointed, but he has a good attitude about it. He’s happy he’s getting to play on the varsity team.

He did a pretty good job, he was in the right place at the right times. He also tried to make a couple of big plays. Unfortunately, most of the other players are bigger then he is and he was more of speed bump then anything else. Which does help in slowing down the other team. There was one play where he was trying to get to the other teams returner. A kid that was about 50 pounds heavier and 8 inches taller laid a hit on him that sent Boopie flying back 3 yards. I was about 40 yards away from the play and I could hear the hit clear as a bell. I kid you not when I say Boopie bounced when he hit the ground. He hit and bounced up a good 5 inches.

The first thing that went through my head was, “I’m damn glad Ktreva was taking Clone to the bathroom and didn’t see that hit.� The second was, “I don’t think he’s going to get up after that.� Folks, let me tell you something, the boy surprised me. He’s a small guy, but he can take the hit. Being quick and agile, he was back up on his feet. The defender that hit him had left him for dead on the field. Boopie was able to get to the returner and slow him down enough so that one of his teammates could get in and make the tackle.

I was proud of him. He took his lumps, and shrugged it off with out thinking about it during the game. After the game is a different story, but I’ll take that. He knew that during the game was not time to complain or show weakness. During tonight’s practice, the assistant coach used him as an example of how to handle a hard hit during the game. His team ended up losing, which he took rather badly. We had a talk about good sportsmanship. Being a good sport isn’t just about not bragging when you win, but accepting it when you lose. You learn from the loss and try to improve, not complain about it.

He may just be a football star yet.

Stupid pre-season.

It’s only pre-season, it’s only pre-season. I just have to keep that in mind. It’s only pre-season.

However, I do think it’s time for McCarthy to pull Favre and give Aaron Rodgers a chance to play. We need to see if he has anything that’s worth all the hype that Green Bay has given him.

More Football fun!

Come one, come all. A week ago I posted that the Pool was started. Now today I have the pleasure of announcing that the Sal Cap (Fantasy) football league has started. If you are interested in playing and I missed you on the invite, drop me a line and I’ll send you one.

They're here!

Jealous?

Yea, I would be too. :)

October 8th Green Bay, Wisconsin. I'm already excited. If anyone wants to meet for a drink or two before or after the game, let me know!

Getting ready for football!

It’s almost August, that means pre-season. Some of you may remember I had an on-line pool run through Yahoo. Well, I’m going to do it again this year. It’s free to join, all you need is a Yahoo account. If you are interested in joining let me know, and I’ll send you an invite. All I need is your e-mail address. If you participated last year, you should have received an invite already. The winner has bragging rights and receives a small prize of nominal cost from me.

Ogre won last year, I’m wondering if he’ll be able to repeat his performance.

My son has commitment issues.

No, he doesn’t have a girlfriend. He’s playing NFL Flag Football. Last Saturday the coach had him playing linebacker and had him doing pass rushing. Since they don’t have an offensive line, he has to stay at least 7 yards back from where the ball is being hiked, and then he can blitz the Quarterback. He’s quick and agile on his feet, and was doing a good job of hurrying the QB. The problem is that about 2 feet from the guy he would slow down and not go for the flag. There was at least 4 different occasions that if he committed to grabbing the flag, he would have gotten a sack.

When I asked him why, he told me that he was worried that he’d make a mistake and the QB would make a big play. I tried explaining to him that by not going for the flag, he was allowing the Quarterback to still make a play. Those can easily turn into big plays too. Tonight, after breaking more concrete up, we ran some drills in the back yard. I had him work on grabbing the flag. Then we worked on short range sprinting, and finally we worked on pass blocking and catching. Hey if he can make the interception, that’s just as good!

I didn’t work him too long. The point is for him to have fun. Not to hate the game, I don’t want to be THAT dad. You know, the one that is at the games berating their kid because he didn’t follow through. At home they work on drills and practice 4 hours a night, besides the team practice. I’m sure we’ve all seen a dad like that. In fact I knew a kid in High School who’s dad was so bad that he wouldn’t let his son go out with his friends on the weekend. They had to practice. The guy was convinced his son was going to be the first kid from our High School to get recruited to Notre Dame. Unfortunately the kid ended up breaking his leg the second game of the season his senior year. The last I heard he never played football again, well at least not during college and definitely not in the pros.

That’s not how I want to be. I want to help Boopie and encourage him. Work with him to improve his game. What I don’t want to do is drive the fun or the love of playing out of him. When he gets older I don’t want him to resent me for making him practice all the time. We won’t practice tomorrow night, unless he asks. Wednesday he has his normal team practice, and after that we’ll crush more rock. Right now I just like watching him play. Seeing him have fun on the field is more important then him being the strongest player on the team. I’d rather keep it that way.

Oh, and I did cheese one father off at the game on Saturday. I was talking to another dad and we didn’t understand some of the rules. (Like no rushing from with in 5 yards of the end zone, etc) He made the comment along the lines of, “It’s so the kids don’t get hurt.� I responded with, “Yea, I guess that makes sense. I mean, it is flag football; it’s not like real football. This is the football you put your kid into because they are too frail to play tackle.� (Boopie is a small guy and would get killed in tackle. In fact many of the kids would get crushed playing tackle) One of THOSE fathers overheard what I said and got a little agitated. Apparently he didn’t like the fact his son was not a starting safety for the Bears.

Birthday Celebrations.

Yesterday Boopie turned 13. As his father I felt it was my duty to start him on some of the rites of manhood. The best way to do this was with a guy’s night out. After spending two weeks explaining to Ktreva why she and Clone could not come with, I started making plans. It’s a guy’s night out, that’s not Guys and MOM! We started off the evening at Hooters. With the help of a couple of fellow bloggers, Shadoglare and T1G, we started the evening out right. Pretty girls, hot wings and instructional advice on the Man Code were given to Boopie by the three of us. We also gave advice on how to pick up and deal with girls.

So about right now some of the ladies out there are probably thinking to themselves, “Good lord, what kind of horrible advice did they give?� Let me tell you this, it was all good, sound advice that hopefully he retains. Trust me, the now man was in good hands.

Speaking of good hands, while at Hooters Boopie received a T-shirt autographed by all the girls and had his picture taken with them as well. I’d love to tell you the rest, however, the man code prohibits the telling of stories in this type of situation. That and a panicked “Don’t tell mom!� on the ride home has rendered my unable to speak about it.

After dinner we separated our ways from T1G and Shadoglare. They went on their way, and we headed to the Rock River Raptors game. Boopie was surprised by how good of seats I have. He knew they where good, but he didn’t realize that they where upfront and in your face! Boopie participated in the half-time mini-football toss. Unfortunately he didn’t win.

My favorite player on the team, Jeremiah Thompson (Number 25 in your program, number 1 in your heart) played last night. I know the web page says his number is 18, but trust me people, it's actually 25. I told him it was Boopie's 13th Birthday and he promised Boopie he would get 13 receptions and 2 touchdowns for him. Well, he didn’t get the thirteen receptions, but he did get two and half touchdowns. One of his catches he dove over the end zone wall, so it didn’t count. That’s why I’m counting it as half a touchdown. If our Quarterback hadn’t overthrown the ball, it would have been a good touchdown! The best part was that after his first touchdown, as he was running back to the bench, Thompson pointed to Boopie and said, “That one is for you.� It made Boopie’s evening to say he had a TD scored just for him.

Today the celebration is over and I have to deal with the fact that I’m old enough to have a teenager. You have to understand, half the time I feel like I’m still 16. Gah, I’m just getting old.

Raptors football!

I took Ktreva to see the Rock River Raptors play tonight. They won 60 something to 30 something. I ‘d give you exact numbers but I’m a little on the inebriated side. I’m still nurshing my nuts and all.

Ktreva claims to have had a wonderful time. I know I did. I even have an official football that was used in the game now! How cool is that! Trust me people, if you live anywhere near the Rockford, Illinois area, it’s worth going to see them play. And before anyone accuses me of having stakes in the team, I don’t. I just own season tickets.

Did I mention that I have an official football?

Substitute NFL.

Sorry, it’s been an action packed weekend for me. Well at least Saturday was action packed. Sunday was more like a redneck homoerotic gay wrestling fest. That, however, is a separate post. This post is about my Saturday night adventure, the home opener of the Rock River Raptors. Being an avid football fan I’m going to do a complete review of my first arena football game.

As part of football there is a great tradition, a tradition that every football loving human, male or female, participates in. That’s right, tailgating. That is unless you live in Rockford, Illinois where they won’t let you grill in the parking deck, even on the top of it. The only tailgating option you had was to go into the Metro Center and attend their sTailgate party. Anyone that has met me knows that I will shell out $10.00 for a beer at a various events; here it was only $4.50… for a 12 oz plastic bottle of Miller Lite. Which I had to hunt down because the outside sTailgate area only had Bud Light. I’ll drink Bud and Bud light, but not if there’s a choice and I’m paying for it. The only reason this irks me is that I can get a 22 oz Miller Light at Lambeau Field for $5.00. I can get the same 12 oz bottle for $4.00 at Lambeau Field. For those of you that don’t know, Lambeau is where the Green Bay Packers play, you know the NFL. The event food coordinator at the Metro Center thinks really highly of their venue. For clarification, the Raptors have NOTHING to do with the food and beverage service. I’d review the food, but it was also obnoxiously expensive AND from what I heard people saying, small portions and not good. They wanted $4.50 for a bratwurst… dammit, that’s a beer! Thus I didn’t eat. I know for the next game I’m going to a strip club first to do some “tail�-gazing before the game. The beer is cheaper and the entertainment has got to be better.

The tailgating and food was the only down side of my experience. The rest was fantastic. The field is 50 yards long; my seats are right on the 20. I’m 5 yards from mid-field. I was supposed to have seats at the 25, but the person selling tickets didn’t realize the field was going to be 5 yards off center when she sold me them. I’m in the first row, right behind the Raptor bench. During the game I could lean over the glass partition and talk with the players. Okay, let me rephrase that, I did lean over the glass and annoyed the players. Since there are different rules, I would ask one of the players what was going on. It was great! The only problem with my seats was that when the highway robbers beer vendors would walk down, they wouldn’t go all the way to the bottom, so I didn’t see them when they would walk down the stairs along my section. Yes, the game was that intense that I was more concerned about the game then beer. (Mark that day on your calendar.)

The game itself was fast paced. There are only 8 men on the field at a time, but being a smaller field; if they had more there would be no room for them to do anything. As it was people were being driven into the walls and flipping into the crowds. That reminds me, any balls that are tipped, thrown or kicked into the stands; the fan that catches it gets to keep. No, I didn’t get one, but not for a lack of trying. The fans in the end zones seemed to get a lot of free balls. There’s no net for field goals, point after attempts and kick offs. Some long passes even went into the stands.

With it being indoors, I thought the game wouldn’t be as rough. Was I even wrong. These guys would hit the players so hard you could feel the impact into the walls and carpet covered concrete floors all the way into the stands. On the first play of the game one of the opposing teams players was hit so hard, he laid on the floor sucking air for a good 20 minutes. Later in the game a player was slammed into the wall right in front of me so hard it rattled my seat. I could see the snot bubbles coming out of his nose!

Yes, that is the wall the guy is diving into!

The only down part of the game was that the Raptors lost in a blow out, 46-20. Sure it would have been more fun if they had won, it’s always more fun when your team wins. Either way it was a great game, great time and I can’t wait until the next home game. If anyone lives in the Rockford area and wants to see some good off NFL season football, I’d recommend it. The ticket prices aren’t bad, $27.00, $17.00 and $12.00 depending on the seat location. Trust me, it’s worth the price… just eat before you go.

Oh, and the cheerleaders aren't bad either.

Armed and Fabulous!

Things at work are the same… so I’m not going to go into any more detail on it.

In other news, this Saturday is the home opener for the Rock River Raptors, the indoor football leage that I have season tickets for. I’m looking forward to the game. Ktreva tried to find a sitter so she could go with to the game. She wasn’t able to find one, so I’m taking one of my friends from work. Not an employee, I think that would be improper. That and I don’t believe any of them like football, let alone would want to spend a Saturday night with their boss. Then again if my boss were like me, I’d want to hang out with him.

Today on lunch I was finally able to find a handgun that Ktreva likes, so we bought it. It’s a Walther PPK .380. Watch out guys, my wife has the James Bond Gun! It’s a nice little handgun that should fit her perfectly.

Click to Enlarge

Unfortunately due to the laws in Illinois we can pay for it today, but we can’t pick it up until Saturday. That means that some weekend coming up I’m going to have to take my wife to the range to shoot. To be honest, it doesn’t have a bad feel. I’ll probably end up putting a couple hundred rounds through it.

Bad calls.

Yesterday was spent watching the Super Bowl. I didn’t have a horse in the race so I didn’t really care, but I just love football. Since October I had been predicting that the Seahawks where going to make it to the big game, but I didn’t think they would win. I had predicted Indy to make it and take the prize. When the Steelers knocked out Indy, I thought it was a fluke and that Seattle would win. Well We all know how wrong I was on that one! Its okay, the Steelers didn’t win by 25 points so I have a crisp new $10.00 in my wallet.

I’m just going to start by saying I’m very disappointed in the officiating during the game. Every Steelers fan I’ve talked to thought it was okay and every Seahawk fan I’ve talked to thought it was poor. Fan’s of other teams are torn, but more of the ones I’ve talked to agree with me that there where some pretty bad calls made or in some cases, not made during the game.

Some of the bigger calls I saw made that I disagree with are:

1) Ben’s touchdown. I’m sorry but that ball did not break the plain until after he was down. However, they may claim there was not enough evidence to overturn the call. I think they are wrong.

2) The complete lack of offside calls against the Steelers. C’mon these guys where not only blatantly jumping the gun on a lot of plays, but in at least three, they had people lined up in the neutral zone. (Some will say that the Steelers had the cadence down. Except the ball hadn’t been snapped when they where crossing the line.)

3) We have yet another case of delay of game not being called, apparently in the playoffs you have an extra 2 seconds too snap the ball. On one the Time Out was called AFTER the clock was to 0.

4) Holding calls inconsistently called. On the Seattle comeback drive, they called holding against Seattle, which barely met the textbook definition of holding. Yet on other plays, there where holds that are more blatant being done and not called, including on a certain 75 yard run.

Before I go into the next play I question, I want to remind all of my readers that the little read and yellow lines on the field are not OFFICIAL. They are added by the networks to assist the viewers on the play. I’ve seen games where the lines have been off up to 3 yards, heck even the announcers will tell you they can be off by as much as 3 yards. On one of Ben’s passes, I’m not so sure he wasn’t past the line of scrimmage. I only caught the side angle of the play once (when it first happened) and it sure looked like he was past it. I never saw any of the replays from the same angle that included the sideline markers. I’m not saying this is a call that should be made; I’d just like to have seen that from a different angle so there was no doubt in my mind.

I can already hear some of you asking, “Are you trying to imply the ref’s and officials where against the Seahawks? What are you, some kind of conspiracy theorist?� No, I’m not saying that at all. I did however watch the game with someone that did and was convinced of it. All through out the game he kept saying it was a conspiracy in the NFL to keep the NFC from winning. The Colts/Steelers game was even used as an example. His belief is that the NFL wanted the Colts in the Super Bowl, but since the Steelers beat the colts by overcoming the NFL’s interference, the NFL decided to back the Steelers. He didn’t find it amusing when I made a tinfoil beanie for him to wear. But that was probably because it had chili-cheese dip on it when I put it on his head. (It was made from the foil covering they used to cover the dip with.) What I’m implying is that there were some bad calls made, and in every game, there is.

At least one penalty could be called on every play in a game. The Officials are humans, they make mistakes, I can forgive mistakes. I just want them to be consistent. If they are going to call ticky-tack holding calls, call them on both teams. If you’re going to ignore offside calls, then maybe they should ignore false starts as well. After all the controversy around bad calls made during the post season this year, I would have thought the NFL would have done everything to ensure that the biggest game of the year was called properly.

I actually thought it was a good game. I don’t like high scoring games. A great defensive game is more fun to watch in my opinion. The commercials bored me, there where only a couple that I thought where amusing and/or interesting. During halftime, I almost went into a rage. I was pissed that the NFL brought in the living dead to perform. Then someone told me that the Stone’s hadn’t died yet and it calmed me down. One of my friends I was watching the game with was in the band and he made this statement: “If this was my band and we sounded like the way the Stone’s are right now, people would tell us we suck.� He was right, they sounded horrible and I was less then whelmed by the power of the performance.

One last game of the season, the Pro-Bowl. Now I need to find a Pro-Bowl party to attend

SUPER BOWL!

It’s Super Bowl Sunday! You know what that means don’t you? Yep… I’m going to be winning some money!

For the first time in 6 years I’ve been invited to multiple Super Bowl parties. (I must be getting tame in my old age.) Of course I said yes to the first one and then declined all the rest. The thing that gets me is that I want to go to all of them for different reasons. Some I know will have better food; others will have better alcohol (One is serving 18 year old Scotch!), and others may have better conversation.

Either way I know I’m going to have fun! It should be a great game; I thinking it will be close. When I get back I’ll share with you the tragic story of how the dog dilemma went.

Go Seattle!

Top ten!

Many people speculate whom the top ten best football teams of all time have been. Well some Bear fan went and put together a list. (Only a Bear fan would pick the 85 Bears as the best team of all time.) Are you curious to know if your team made it?

The thing that gets me with lists like this is that it’s all based on a person’s opinion. A person’s opening can be easily swayed by a liking or disliking of a team, player, and/or owner. I put about as much stock into lists like this as I do of the dream I have that Adriana Lima is going to come to my house and have a three-way with me and my wife coming true.

Hey there tootsie roll, time to watch the Super Bowl!

This weekend is the Super Bowl. There are a lot of excited people out there, including myself. My team came nowhere close to even making the playoffs, let alone the big game. Being an NFC fan (Plus Holmgren, Rhodes and Hasselbeck where with the Packers), I’m pulling for the Seahawks to win, and I honestly think they can do it. Yet, for some reason, everyone else I know seems to be pulling for the Steelers and thinking they are going to win. Where are the Seattle fans? Am I the only person that thinks Seattle is going to win?

This brings me to my second issue. I have a minion at work that is a Steelers fan, huge Steelers fan. He claims that the Steelers are going to put the smack down on Seattle. He was so convinced of this he wanted to put a wager on it. You all know I’m not a gambling man; no good comes from gambling. Yet, this one time I bit. Why? He gave me 25 points. Yes, twenty-five points! That means that if the Steelers win 35-10, we tie, if it’s 34-10 I win.

So if there are any other Steeler fans out there that want to offer the same conditions, contact me.

We have a winner!

The regular football season is over, that means it’s time for me to award prizes to the winners of my Salary Cap and Pick’ems Football contests.

The winner for the Salary Cap League is:

First loser is:

For the Pick’ems, The Winner is:

First loser is:

The winners have been notified by e-mail of their victory. A nominal prize for the football team of their choice shall be sent to them. For the first losers… you get an honorable mention and the Nelson Muntz laugh. HA-ha!

I hope that everyone that participated enjoyed themselves. Of course I will be running both again next year, so sometime in August you can expect to seem me sending out invites. If you didn’t get to play, there is always next year!

Rock River Raptors Schedule

Whoo-hoo!!!! I just received notice of the 2006 Schedule for the Rock River Raptors. The Raptors are an indoor football team for which I have purchased season tickets. Row 1, 50 yard line, right behind the teams bench.

March 25, 2006 07:00 PM @ Evansville Bluecats
April 1, 2006 07:30 PM Sioux Falls Storm
April 8, 2006 07:00 PM @ Bloomington Extreme
April 15, 2006 07:00 PM @ Sioux Falls Storm
April 22, 2006 07:30 PM Peoria Rough Riders
April 29, 2006 07:30 PM Omaha Beef
May 6, 2006 07:30 PM Bloomington Extreme
May 12, 2006 07:00 PM @ Ft. Wayne Freedom
May 20, 2006 07:30 PM Lexington Horsemen
May 27, 2006 12:00 AM BYE
June 3, 2006 07:00 PM @ Lexington Horsemen
June 10, 2006 07:00 PM @ Omaha Beef
June 17, 2006 07:30 PM Ft. Wayne Freedom
June 24, 2006 07:30 PM Bloomington Extreme
July 1, 2006 07:00 PM @ Peoria Rough Riders
July 8, 2006 07:30 PM Ohio Valley Greyhounds

***Home games in bold***

I’m not sure what the rules or regulations are yet, but I have time to learn before the first game. The best thing about this is that it fills the empty months between Pro-Bowl and Pre-Season. However, I’m not sure if this schedule is accurate, it looks like they are playing the Bloomington Extreme three times, so there may be some changes. As it stands right now, I’ll be able to go to all but one game. The April 29 game falls on the date of one of my re-enactments, priorities folks, priorities.

Game Over, man.

Yesterday marked the end of an era, at least for us football fans. Yesterday was the very last Monday Night Football (MNF) game on ABC. On September 21, 1970, this tradition of football during primetime started and was the longest running primetime sports show in history. Effectively covering 36 seasons, this show became a staple for football fans around the country.

As I am in my early thirty’s, I can’t remember a time when there was not MNF, so last nights lack-luster game with all of its clips and highlights was difficult to watch. Not because the game was crappy, but because of what it symbolized, the end of an era. When I was younger, I remember watching the games with my dad. The times we spent talking about the teams, the players, the plays; it was a special time for us. As I got older, I always found MNF to be a welcome distraction to the different troubles that lives throw your way.

Sure, they are still going to show Monday night games on ESPN, but that’s just not that same. The game isn’t going to start with the traditional, “Are you ready for some football?� song by Hank Williams Jr.. Sure, they are still going to have annoying announcers, but damn! No John Madden and Al Michaels babbling about the plays in some inane commentary, no on-screen doodling by Madden to try to make sense of his babbling, no long winded stories by Michaels to try to give some semblance of importance to what he is saying, it’s all gone. There will be no more “Horse Trailer� Player of the Game. Nothing will be the same!

It’s not just the football that made MNF great; it was the whole production that made MNF what it was. I’m sure there are many out there don’t understand what I’m talking about and think I’m going even further off of my rocker, but to the football junkies out there, you understand. You all know exactly what I am saying.

Farewell MNF, life will not be the same with out you. Thank you Meredith, Cosell, Gifford, Madden and Michaels for all the memories. Thank you.

Da Schnappster!

One last thing on TO, just because this made me laugh my arse off.

I read this article by Charles Robinson regarding who might pick up TO. He has the football quote of the year as far as I’m concerned.

Owens will be released in the off season, and he's destined to woo someone else. He's the league's answer to Peppermint Schnapps – sweet when you meet, but a headache waiting to happen. What's worse, you know that going in, and you still end up in the same place.

***Emphasis mine

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Okay maybe not everyone will find that as amusing as I did, but maybe it’s because it brings back two memories for me. The first being the movie “The Stoned Age�, when the two guys try to go pick up these chics they show up with this gallon bottle of peppermint schnapps. (The Schnappster.. **TING**) Even the girls won’t touch the stuff. It was just hilarious.

The second stemmed from when I was in College. Now, to tell this story properly I will need to slip into story teller mode, those of you that have seen me in person tell stories know what I’m talking about, those of you that haven’t… I’m sorry you missed the show.

One night when I was in college, my friends and I went out drinking. (All my good stories start out like that, I don’t know why) It was September of my sophomore year; my sophomore palls and I took a couple of freshmen that lived on our floor in the dorm to this party. We had Skippy (All he ate was Skippy peanut butter) and Spin (He looked like the lead singer of the Spin Doctors) with us. They seemed like nice enough guys, and we thought we would show them were the good parties are held.

At the second party we arrived at they had peppermint schnapps flowing freely to the ladies… and Skippy. Skippy decided he loved the schnapps. Unbeknownst to us, Skippy had never drank before in his life. He found the taste alluring and couldn’t stay away from the stuff. He ended up getting pissed drunk. When I say pissed drunk, I mean he pissed himself in the middle of the party. After wetting himself he was forced to stay out of the house, now we being good friends that we were… having just met the guy in the last couple of weeks… we decided to stay at the party, in the house, away from him. Now I could lie and say we had hoped he would sober up, but I was quite the asshole, and I kept sending people out to him with a shot every 30 minutes… just to keep him drunk. (He was blitzed by 10:00 PM; we stayed at the party until 4:00AM).

After a while just to make sure he wouldn’t get too drunk we started giving him shots of water with a splash of Scope (To make him think it was the schnappster) between the other shots. Maybe it was all he had to drink, maybe it was the fact that toward the end of the night he spilled more down the front of his face then he got in his mouth, either way he never noticed, UNTIL we were walking home. We had to leave when Skippy took a header off of the second floor balcony into some bushes. God loves the stupid and drunks, because he walked away with out a scratch. On the way home, between trying to bounce off every car, tree and bush, he finally let the urge to ‘gurge flow. Bear hugging a tree he opened his mouth and all the water, scope and peppermint schnapps he had been drinking came out of him with enough force to tip him over onto his back.

Picture if you will, Skippy a scrawny kid no taller then 5ft 6, laying on his back spewing like a fountain. The bile pepperminty fluid splashing back down over his face and chest. None of us wanted to touch the kid; he was covered in vomit and piss. Finding a large stick, which was actually a fence post we ripped out of the ground. We prodded Skippy until he got up and was able to get back to the dorm. As we were walking away he says, “Have I been drinking Scope?� We all start busting up.

Now you would think he would learn his lesson? Nope… the very next weekend he went out and did the SAME thing with peppermint schnapps. The whole semester went that way, every couple of weeks he would get blitzed off of the schnappster. In December, when he found out he was probably going to flunk out, I asked him why he kept drinking peppermint schnapps. His response was what made the above comment so funny.

“It’s like dating a girl you know is just using you. At the beginning of the night it’s great. Everything is sweet, exciting and sensual. By the end of the night you realize that for what you got, it cost you a lot, but it was so good you just can’t help going back for more.� – Skippy December, 1993.

That's a loud signal to the other primadonnas

It looks as if the NFL arbitrator upheld the suspension and deactivation of Terrell Owens by the Philadelphia Eagle.

T.O.’s Season effectively over after arbitrator sides with Eagles.

It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Way to go Andy!

Others have been talking about the Terrell Owens situation in Philadelphia. I agree with everything they said, yet I was compelled to add my two cents.

I applaud Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles for the way they are handling T O. A four game suspension, including last weeks game versus Washington, and then they are planning to deactivate him for the rest of the season. By deactivating him, that prevents another team from picking him up. That also means they have to pay him for the rest of the season, outside the games he is suspended. Why would they do that? Two words: Salary Cap. With the signing bonus, if they released him now it would go all to this and next years salary cap. That more then likely would put the Eagles over the top and then they would have the penalties for it. By keeping him, yet deactivating him, it’s actually cheaper on their salary cap to do it that way. Moreover, they can try to trade him to another team so they could take some of that salary cap hit after the season is over.

Personally, I like the idea just because he can’t play then. He has always given me the impression of a man who only is interested in himself, fame and money. To me it seemed he would do anything to get media attention, either stupid stunts or shooting his mouth off in press conferences. Instead of relying on his talent, which to be honest he is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, he relied on controversy to get him into the spotlight. Every time I saw a press conference involving him, I saw a man that would promote himself and slander his teammates. By taking him off the field, they have removed him almost completely from the spotlight. There will be no announcers talking about how many touchdowns he made in a game, no analysis talking about how effective he was last weekend. More importantly no pre or post game interviews. You are hitting him where it hurts the most.

Players like T O are nothing more then a cancer to their teams. Football is a team sport. Guys like this don’t bring anything to the team. They actually eat away at the camaraderie, the unity, the morale and the goals of a team. Could you work with a person that continually bad mouths you, tries to grab the spotlight for themselves, and gets in your face when things don’t go their way? I know I can’t. The only way to get rid of a cancer like this is to cut it out. That is exactly what Andy Reid and the Eagles did. They realized this player is doing more to hurt the team then to help it. In a show of class, they decided they were not going to put up with his antics anymore. Good job guys, good job!

There are other primadonna football players out there beside TO. How I would love to see every team handle them in the same manner. That won’t happen, but it would be nice. I know that as soon as the Eagles release TO or start to trade him around, another team will pick him up.

Rumor has it that the Green Bay Packers are one of the leading contenders to work a trade for T O. I’ve heard this from three different sources, none of them confirmed from a reliable source. I pray this is just a rumor and not true. Many fans would rather suffer a 5-year losing streak then to have this cancer on our team. Actually, I don’t think this rumor can be true, why? Because of salary cap reasons. Green Bay just cannot afford to pay him his contract under their dangerously tight salary cap as it is.

Corner Back dilemma

I don’t live in Wisconsin, so I’m getting this information for a third party. But apparently, on WISN AM1130 out of Milwaukee they have a show called the “Packer Grapevine�. On the show, there is a correspondent, Mark “Grapevine� Daniels, who is a reporter from Green Bay. He gives the inside scoop on the team. Allegedly, (Because I have no first hand knowledge) He has said that Ahmad Carroll, the Packer CB who can’t seem to learn to keep his hands off the Wide Receivers, is the most hated player on the team.

According to this source, Carroll has an inflated ego with a matching attitude. He doesn’t see anything wrong with his play and continually blames his mistakes on others. IE The refs made a bad call, the Receiver pushed off; He lost the ball in the sun, etc. Allegedly, he takes no personal responsibility for when something goes wrong with his play; it’s never his fault.

This has made him very unpopular on the team by not just the other players, but the coaches and staff.

This makes me wonder then why we cut Joey Thomas (another CB drafted the same year as Carroll). If there was a problem with his play, why not try to trade him a few weeks ago before the trading deadline expired? Maybe we could have gotten something for him. He was a number 3 draft pick, hell even if we received a sixth round it would have been better then the nothing we got for releasing him.

If what is being said on the radio were true about Carroll, why would we not want to keep Thomas and start developing him more? He obviously doesn’t commit the penalties Carroll does, even if he isn’t quite as good… at this time.

Time will tell as he was picked up by New Orleans on waivers.

The scourge of the north?

When I first saw this story, I couldn’t believe it. I figured stuff like this would be over with once Randy Moss was gone and all the bad publicity from Mike Tice scalping Super Bowl tickets. Between the other problems the Minnesota Vikings have, they really didn’t need this kick in the bad publicity department.

To be honest, this may be what pulls the team together. Usually when groups of guys go out, the “Man Code� comes in to play. The Sergeant Schultz clause states: No matter what happens, you saw nutting! (Unless it’s the guys I’m hanging out with, then it’s only a matter of days before my wife finds out everything that happened).

On a lighter note, could you imagine what a 911 call on this would sound like?

911: 911 where’s your emergency?

Caller: We are out on Lake Minnetonka and are being attacked by Vikings. They are raping and pillaging the passengers as we speak.

911: Really? Vikings huh? Let me see if we can get Harold of Wessex to repel them.

52-3

Finally the Packers win a game this season... and I miss it. Not because it's my anniversary, Not because I was re-enacting, Not because I was shooting. Nope, because I live in Illinois and they televised the Chicago Bear game. ARGH!

Oh, to all the Bear fans out there, that fumble at the end of the game wasn't Orton's fault... that was just really bad play by the running back.

This just is not right!

This football season is starting pretty bad for me. My Packers are 0-4, the worst they have been in 15 years. I’m trailing by 75.49 points behind the leader in my Salary Cap/Fantasy contest… I’m thinking it was a mistake to invite Spurs to join as he is in the lead. Just kidding, however since I am the commissioner I guess I could forcibly remove him from the game! ;)

Then to make matters worse I’m tied for 6th place in the pool. Last year I was in the leading three positions the entire year AND ended up winning. Not this year, I’m four games behind. The standings are as follows:

1st: Sensational Simians (A minion) 38
2nd: Packer Chick (Ktreva, my wife) 36, Quality Weenie (Machelle) 36
4th: Joe Viking (Hypodermic Scorpion) 35, Ogre’s Picks (Ogre) 35, T1G (T1G, you never would have guessed, right?) 35
7th: Contagion’s Pack Attack (Me, again, you never would have guessed) 34, Ass Kickin’ Chickens (Spurs, which it took me 3 weeks to figure out) 34
9th: KingR (Husband of a minion) 33
10th: Raider Nation (A minion) 28
11th: Metrosexual Ballers (A Minion) 22 (Poor ‘tard forgot to make his picks on week)

With only four of the 17 weeks down, there is a lot of room for improvement and change in these rankings.

However if things don’t start turning around quickly I’m going to have a long season, especially with the Packers. Living in Illinois and being a Packer fan is hard enough as it is, when they are having a losing season it is even worse. Throw in the fact that I work for a company that has VERY strong ties to the Chicago Bears. My life has been a living hell at work. I get calls almost daily from Bear fans bragging up their better record. I hate to break this to them, It’s a one game lead, it’s still a losing record AND the Bears haven’t even done their bi-annual regular season changing of the QB yet. This doesn’t matter to most Bear fans… as long as they have a better record then the Packers they are happy. Not all Bear fans are that way; I’ve met one or two that can be classy… when they want.

But if my Packers are going to continue to play like crap, the football gods could at least make me have a good season in Fantasy or the pool. Especially since in the pool, at the end of the season I’m buying the winner a small football related prize of the team of their choice. There is a chance I might have to buy a Chicago Bear item, and that goes against my ethic. (Notice singular)

Update: I corrected T1G to have 35 points, not 34 as he pointed out in the comments. Typical Bear fan, whining about 1 point just so as not to be tied with a Packer fan. :)

Real women love football...

…the rest can stay in the kitchen*.

This last weekend I took my wife, Ktreva, to see the Packer/Browns game. Yes, my team lost which sucks, but that is life. For all of the naysayers out there, remember the Packers started last season with a 1-4 record and ended up with a 10-6 and the division. There are 14 games left so don’t get too worked up yet.

On the way up, we made excellent time. We were behind this Semi averaging 80 MPH; we drafted most of the way to Green Bay behind him. It was nice. However, we lost him around Fon Du Lac. When we got to Oshkosh, we were stuck in traffic. The city is on both sides of Lake Butte Des Morts; however, the only bridge that crosses it is the highway. We hit Oshkosh right around 5:15 when everyone that worked on the south side of the lake was trying to get to their homes on the north side. It was insane. We went 10 miles in 30 minutes.

We spent Saturday buying Packer items, including mud flaps for my truck, clothes and Packer Lingerie for the wife… Its football and sex… how can you go wrong? We also went through the Packer Hall of Fame and took a tour of Lambeau Field. The tour was great because we were able to go out the tunnel the Packers run out of every home game. We were able to walk along the edge of the field itself, however we were specifically told to stay off the grass. I was a bad man. After weighing the possible penalties, I decided I had to take the risk. The only people around me where my wife and the tour guide and he seemed to be pre-occupied with the other members of our group; so, I reached down and touched the grass. He caught me and I just gave him a guilty look and was ready to be thrown out of the stadium. He just laughed and shook his head. Apparently some fan does it every tour group. To me I wasn’t sure if I would ever have the chance to be down there again. Being a life long Packer fan I had to do it!

My wife was great; she understood my little idiosyncrasies and played along with them. She also was excited at the whole Packer Experience. Being able to revel in the history and legends of one of the founding teams of the NFL AND the only team that has its original name. All of the others have either changed names and/or cities.

There were Cleveland Brown’s fans there of course. Even they seemed to enjoy the city and the stadium. The only complaint I heard from the Brown’s fans was; “Packer fans are way too nice.� That just goes to show you that Packer fans are the greatest and classiest fans on the face of the earth.

I ended up wearing jeans and a Jersey to the game. Five minutes before kickoff I was regretting not wearing shorts, it was hot! Well it was hot to me, I’m used to winter games. It was nice that we weren’t all cramped together. When you go to winter games, the seating is very cramped due to all the cold weather gear everyone wears.

On Sunday, during half time, the Packer’s retired Reggie White’s number 92. It was a nice ceremony. I’ll admit I got a little misty-eyed, especially when they unveiled his name and number on the ring of Fame at Lambeau. His was only the fifth number to be retired in Packer history. The others are Don Hutson’s 14, Tony Canadeo’s 3, Bart Starr’s 15 and Ray Nitschke’s 66. You may not be a Packer fan, but you can’t deny that Reggie was a class act and one of the greatest defensive players ever to play the game. It’s a shame that he was taken at such a young age from this world.

I pressed my luck again with speeding, and succeeded, I didn’t get a ticket. We were able to get out of the Stadium at the end of the game and back home by 9:30. I made sure to note the times because I’ve had people tell me that it isn’t possible to go to a 3:15 game in Lambeau and make it back to Rockford before 10 PM. Of course I averaged 10 MPH over, but aren’t speed limits more of a suggestion anyway?

* as seen on a T-shirt in Green Bay, WI

What to wear?!

Every year for the last 12 years, I have gone to at least one Green Bay Packer game a season. Mostly in Green Bay at Lambeau field, sometimes in other stadiums. This year is different then all of the other years. For the first time ever I’m seeing a game played in September. Prior to this game, the earliest I had ever been to a Packer game was the second weekend in October, and I had luxury box seats.

They are calling for the weather to be in the 70’s with minimal chance of rain. When packing I realized that I was short on the warm weather clothes for the stadium. Since 90% of the games I’ve been to were in December, I have tons of clothes for cold weather! The thought of wearing shorts into a stadium kind of scares me. I’ve never been able to do that before this weekend. Something is inherently wrong with wearing shorts to a football game.

Waiting for the intervention.

Football addiction has taken a turn for the worse. Help needed… quickly. Wife is an enabler. Last night I decided I needed to “play� football, unfortunately I didn’t have any football games. Today on lunch, I went out and bought an Xbox and Madden ’06. Between that and my going to Greenbay this weekend for the game, you probably won’t see much of me for the next couple of weeks.

The worst part is that Boopie has been asking me to buy him an Xbox for two years now, and I keep telling him he doesn't need one. He's going to be so mad when he sees it. That and the fact I've already decided that since I'm plugging it into the main TV of the house the only time he will get to play it is when A) I am not playing it. 2) My wife doesn't want to watch the TV. D) I don't want to watch the TV. That pretty much leaves at night when he is sleeping.

I hate Ahmad Carroll.

Just finished watching the most important game of this weekend…. And my team lost.

This sucks. The penalties killed us. Unless Ahmad Carroll starts to show improvement, he’s going to be the death of the Packers. He’s like Bawah Jue of the last couple of season. If he doesn't learn how to keep his hands out of recievers faces, he is going to bring enough penalties down on the Packers to cause even the Bears offense to look good.

At least it’s only the first week. There are 16 weeks left, 15 games to go. One loss does not eliminate a team this early on.

Damn our defense!

Unfortunately my Green Bay support person had surgery this week. (I hope he is doing well, no one has responded to my messages inquiring on his status) So I have no one to vent to. Then again, maybe I should contact a Bear fan; they can sympathize with me.

Pre-game check list.

Packer T-shirt…. Check
Packer hat…. Check
Whisky…. Check
Beer…. Check
Pop (aka Soda, aka Coke, but only if you are from the south because I’m not drinking coke)…. Check
Hot Wings…. Check
Snacks…. Check
Printouts of every pool/Fantasy team I’m in…. Check
Clip Board with pens and highlighters to make notes…. Check
Latest Packer Pro Shop and NFL Shop catalogs…. Check

This can only mean one thing: FOOTBALL TIME! OH YEAH!

Today is the first Sunday in football season. Thursday nights game between the Pats and the Raiders was very entertaining and helped cool my football fever, but it wasn’t enough to give me the fix that I needed. Mainly because neither team is in my division so the outcome of the game did not have a direct impact on my Packers.

Today is a different story; at noon CST my wife will become a football widow. This will last all the way until February. She doesn’t mind, as a football fan herself, she just doesn’t understand my deep love and infatuation of the game.

You will have to excuse me now while I go do my pre-game rituals.

The Season is Here!

Tonight at 8:00 PM CST NFL regular season starts. The reigning Super Bowl champs take on the troubled Oakland Raiders. Any team that has Randy Moss is going to be troubled.

I can barely contain my excitment. If it wasn't for the fact that I have a position that requires a certain level of dress, I'd be coming to work wearing my Jersey and all my football gear. As it is I am wearing Packer sox and underwear... not that any of you wanted to know that.

Football season extended?!

Some of you may not realize that a large chunk of my life revolves around football. From the first regular season game through the Pro-Bowl, I track my team and players. Whenever football is on TV, I generally want to watch it, unless it’s two teams I could care less about and the game has no impact on the Green Bay Packers.

Now my football season may be extended, much to the chagrin of my understanding wife. It seems that Rockford has picked up an Indoor Football League team called the Raptors. Today, with my wife’s permission, I looked into purchasing season tickets.

I know it’s only Indoor or “Arena� football… but once February hits I tend to get depressed and that is a long time from February to September. This would fill part of that gap. Plus indoor football is better then no football!

Now if I could only get my season tickets to the Packers! I’m only 1051 away!

Are you ready for some Football?

There are three things in my life that I am truly passionate about my family, re-enacting and football. I have not done many posts regarding football on the off-season, mainly because I let my passion rest so I can focus on other things. However, Training camps have started and preseason is coming upon us quickly. That and something big happened yesterday, at least something I feel that is big. Javon Walker and Grady Jackson reported to Packer training camp. So did Cletidus Hunt, but that guy is a waste of space, depriving other players of valuable oxygen when he is around.

Why is this big? Both of them have that sleaze ball Drew Rosenhaus as an agent. This guy is the biggest, greediest agent I’ve heard of in the NFL. He is like something straight out of Hollywood. I only thought sleaze balls like him existed in movies and TV. He is the agent that represents many big name players and has convinced them that if they don’t like their contracts they should hold out for more. Such as Terrell Owens; Terrell received the contract he wanted last year, he ended up being injured and not playing as well as they hoped. Now he was going to hold out for a bigger and better contract this year. Now TO holding out on the Eagles just irritates me because he is a primadonna with an ego that is out of control. After half of the stunts he has pulled over the years, I have no respect for the man. He is an “About Me� player, not a team player.

We’ve all heard the saying, “there is no I in team.� (But there is an “M� and an “E�, and that spells me. Sorry little joke) Football is a team sport. There is no one hero. Every position is dependant upon every other position. No one player makes a team; I don’t care what anyone might think. A great QB is not going to do anything with out a decent line, receivers and backs. You can have the best offense, but if your defense can’t stop the other team from scoring, you are not going to win the Super Bowl. I think you get my point.

Walker, Jackson and Hunt all decided they were going to hold out for a bigger contract this season. Obviously, I have no appreciation for Hunt as a player. He’s lazy and seems to put only effort behind his play when he feels like it. Walker and Jackson happen to be two players I had a lot of respect. Yes, that is past tense. I lose respect for someone who, with multiple years on their contract left decides they are under paid and want to milk the team for more money.

Now I know some reader is going spout off the typical, “Look how much money these teams make, why shouldn’t the player get a bigger slice of the pie.� Two words: Salary Cap. If you pay player A more money, then you have to take that money from somewhere else, probably players B, C and D. Its basic economics; if you can spend only 80 million a year on player salaries, then that’s all you have. It doesn’t matter if the team brought in an impossibly low 80 million the previous year or 10 billion, all teams can only spend so much a year.

Walker is scheduled to make $515,000.00 this year. That is not a lot of money for the NFL and he did have a Pro Bowl season last year. Based on last season he wants more money. Okay, I’ll tell you what, the Packers then should get a refund on his first couple of seasons when he severely underperformed. That’s fair right? He wants more money for playing one good season, I figure he’s owes the Packers for two sub-standard seasons. You won’t see that happening however. Why? It’s part of his contract, which the Packers are upholding. When Walker first started with the Pack, he signed a contract he wanted. He didn’t complain the first couple of years, he has one good season and now it’s not good enough. Lets see how he does this year and next year when it is his last year on his contract talk about a new one.

Jackson we picked up off the scrap heap a couple of seasons ago after being let go by the Saints because he couldn’t stay in shape. He was about out of the NFL when Green Bay signed him. Jackson came to Green Bay and not only made many personal improvements; he drastically helped our inept defense. Green Bay gave him a second chance that he was grateful to receive. Now two years later he wants more money. When he came to the Packers he signed a contract he wanted, he thought it was a good contract. I just don’t get it.

I think I’m underpaid at my place of employment. My performance is superior to that of others that, because they have been with the company longer, make more money then I. Do you know what would happen if I told my boss, “I’m not going to come to work until we talk about a raise.�? My arse would be on the unemployment line faster then Bret Favre can throw a football. I make nowhere near as much money as these guys do, and my company pulls down more then any of these football teams a year.

With Walker and Jackson returning to the team with only missing some voluntary practices, I only lost a little respect for them. If they had held out the whole practice like Rosenhaus had Mike McKenzie do last year; there would be no way for me to restore any amount of respect to either of them. What I really hope is that with all these holdouts failing, that maybe other teams will stop caving into tactics like these.