Tag: football

Holiday Potpourri

So, posting has been nonexistant rather than light the last couple weeks. Sorry for that. Work has been keeping me busy, and I’ve been doing a bit more to get caught up around here – not to mention the holidays busyness. In addition to that, politics has just been depressing lately, as have local sports, so I haven’t felt much like writing on said topics, which left me without obvious source material. That said, I’m back to give a quick update on what’s going on in the world of me.

The Cardinals have lost 4 of their last 5 games and now look like a team that doesn’t deserve to be in the playoffs. I’m hoping they come back and prove me wrong tomorrow against Seattle, but I’m not holding my breath. If we don’t shape up, it will be a quick first round exit for the boys in red. The Suns lost on Christmas day to the Spurs on a heartbreaking buzzer beater three, and the Celtics have now lost two in a row to break their 19 game winning streak. So color me annoyed.

I also got Mass Effect for Christmas from my brother, but am reluctant to install it due to the draconian DRM scheme put in place by EA. I am not sure whether to look for a crack of some sort, or just install it into a virtual environment, but I’ll certainly update with results of whatever I decide to do there. I also got an iPod (yeah, I know) which will be the subject of its own post later.

I finally saw The Dark Knight – and while I don’t feel it quite lived up to the earth-shattering hype that it was given by my friends and the online reviews, it was a masterful movie. Ledger truly did give a brilliant performance, in that I didn’t even recognize him as the actor in nearly any scene. I felt that Aaron Eckhart’s portrayal of Harvey Dent was also genius, perhaps on par with Ledger’s Joker in the method of portrayal, although obviously not given quite as much screen time or opportunity in the script. But I really felt that Eckhart was Dent, and being so convinced is the mark of great acting. With that in mind I think the character and portrayal of Batman by Christian Bale was outshone by the masterful acting of Ledger, Eckhart and the ever-brilliant Gary Oldman (as James Gordon). The movie was less dark than was expected as well, which made it easier for me to recommend to my parents and more squeamish friends. While it’s certainly deserving of the PG-13 rating,  the violence was done in such a way that it was mostly kept off screen, and is thus easier to take. It’s a movie I can absolutely recommend, and strongly suggest viewing twice – it was much better the second time, for me.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash. The man was a genius. I’ve also been actually enjoying some Christmas music this year, which I normally don’t. I suppose that’s a good thing.

Christmas was a small, informal event in which my family got together, watched basketball, talked about life and God and the meaning of Christmas, and ate delicious foods. Exactly as it should be.

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas. Now go drink some egg nog or something.

Another year

Well I’ve made it one more year. I feel like I should be doing something fun on my birthday, but I think after work I’ll just go home, have a glass of scotch, maybe watch the end of the football game, and turn in early. I’m starting to come down with something, I think, so I’d like to nip it in the bud early.

Sorry for the light posting the last few days. Should resume its normal consistency this week. In the meantime, thanks to all who’ve emailed and texted and called to wish me a happy birthday; it’s much appreciated, and those well-wishes assure it will indeed be happy.

And here’s a nice birthday present: Cardinals won the NFC west last night. First playoff game in 10 years, first division title in 33 years (in St. Louis), and first home playoff game in 61 years (in Chicago). And we clinched it against – of all teams – St. Louis. How sweet that must have tasted for Kurt Warner. Now if we can beat the Vikings on Sunday, I could see us taking the No. 3 seed and making it all the way to the NFC title game, if not the Super Bowl – wouldn’t THAT be something?

Super Bowl thoughts

That was the best game I have seen in years.

As much as I dislike Eli Manning, I can’t say a bad thing about him after tonight. That was amazing execution, especially for such a young guy playing in the Super Bowl for the first time. And the Giants’ defensive line – Michael Strahan, anyone? – was just phenomenal. To shut down one of the best offenses that football has ever seen and hold them to 14 points, hurting Brady every time he stepped back, that was really something impressive. Hats off to them, they really earned it.

Brady I think just did not handle the pressure well. We’ve seen him throw right through the pressure but tonight he just couldn’t do it.  Their defensive line was doing well but just couldn’t do to Manning what the Giants did to Brady. The game was run entirely by the defense on both sides right up until the 4th and … well, like I said, best game I have seen in years. Very good stuff.

So, grats Giants, sorry Pats, maybe next year.

Also, how bad does Connor Manning have to be feeling right now? “You know, both of your brothers have won a Super Bowl. What have you done?” “Dad, I don’t play footba–” “Get out of my house!”

Pre-Super Bowl rambling!

Sorry for no update yesterday. Been a rough couple of days, but life goes on.

Funny note: Rambo came out and had a bad return at the box office. Yet their commercials make it sound like they’re doing great. I hadn’t heard a single good review, so I looked to see what source the commercials took their props from – turns out its some horror movie review site I’d never heard of. Here’s the link. I think that says a bit about the movie, but maybe that’s just me.

Also, I got a couple requests for a source on my wallpaper from the other day. That, and many other fine photos, wallpapers, etc are from Volk Studio.

So! Super Bowl this Sunday. I’m pulling for the Patriots, for a couple reasons: One, it would be really cool to see a team complete a perfect 19-0 season. With the way they’ve been playing, it’s really very cool to see them this close. If anyone deserves it, it’s them. Second, I want to see the Giants lose because they beat Green Bay and I hate Eli Manning. Both Mannings, actually, but especially Eli. It should be a good game, either way. The Giants have really kicked it up a notch so they should give New England a run for their money.

Every source I’ve seen says the commercials are gonna suck this year. I know GoDaddy’s big plan is to air a “teaser” for a commercial they’ll have online that was too risqué to broadcast, which is just them pushing the line even further. Bob’s a great guy and all but sometimes I wonder. It’s really too bad about the commercials in general though, watching some of the old commercials from the pre-Janet Super Bowls brought back some awesome memories and smiles. We used to have big Super Bowl parties at my old church, and they’d broadcast the game onto the big projection screen in the main room. Everyone would pitch in chips and soda and hot dogs and hamburgers and have a grand old time of it. I’ll never forget Pastor Jay putting on his Broncos cap and explaining, with a big grin, that Jesus was going to be riding back on a white bronco, not a “packer,” and so obviously Denver was the team Jesus was rooting for. He must have – I can’t think of any other way to explain Terrell Davis’ performance that game. Also, watching for the Budweiser frogs while sitting in church always seemed somehow fitting in an ironic way.

Don’t really have much else to say, except that John Stewart has been awesome lately. I’ll save my political rambling, though, for a post later tonight, or perhaps tomorrow.