Everybody else does 'em..........so why not? :)
You'll see predicted order of finish for each division, wild card choices, Conference Championship Game picks, and my fearless (probably way off) Super Bowl XLV prediction at the end. You can't stand the suspense, can you? :)
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NFC East
1) Dallas Cowboys
2) New York Giants
3) Philadelphia Eagles
4) Washington Redskins
NFC North
1) Green Bay Packers
2) Minnesota Vikings
3) Detroit Lions
4) Chicago Bears
NFC South
1) New Orleans Saints
2) Atlanta Falcons
3) Carolina Panthers
4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFC West
1) San Francisco 49ers
2) Arizona Cardinals
3) Seattle Seahawks
4) St. Louis Rams
DIVISION CHAMPS: Dallas, Green Bay, New Orleans, San Francisco
WILD CARDS: Atlanta, Minnesota
NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Green Bay over Atlanta
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AFC EAST:
1) New England Patriots
2) New York Jets
3) Miami Dolphins
4) Buffalo Bills
AFC NORTH:
1) Baltimore Ravens
2) Pittsburgh Steelers
3) Cleveland Browns
4) Cincinnati Bengals
AFC SOUTH:
1) Indianapolis Colts
2) Tennessee Titans
3) Houston Texans
4) Jacksonville Jaguars
AFC WEST:
1) San Diego Chargers
2) Kansas City Chiefs
3) Denver Broncos
4) Oakland Raiders
DIVISION CHAMPS: New England, Baltimore, Indianapolis, San Diego
WILD CARDS: Tennessee, Houston
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Indianapolis over Baltimore
SUPER BOWL XLV: Indianapolis over Green Bay
NOTES:
---I have been on the Green Bay bandwagon for a Super Bowl Champ pick until tonight. I heard someone on TV (that's dangerous) talk about Peyton Manning having a bad taste in his mouth after the Saints' loss. With Bob Sanders and Anthony Gonzalez returning, a DEEP receiving corp, Donald Brown emerging in the run game, and Freeney sacking QB's, I can now see Peyton making this a season of redemption for that team. I wouldn't want to be in their way. Thus, my last minute migration to the Colts in a rematch of that wild preseason shootout, won, ironically, by Green Bay.
QUICK THOUGHTS ON EACH TEAM:
DALLAS: They're talented, but Wade Phillips is their coach. That means a playoff appearance and exit.
NEW YORK GIANTS: What happened to their defense? And their running game? I only picked them 2nd in the division because.....
PHILADELPHIA: Kevin Kolb jerseys won't be flying off the shelves as Christmas presents this year. Can Mike Bell and LeShon McCoy save him? Doubt it. And Vick isn't the answer, either.
WASHINGTON: Lucky to get five wins. Shanahan is in for a LONG year. McNabb will probably miss 7 or 8 games due to injury. Another lost season in DC.
GREEN BAY: See paragraph on Super Bowl.
MINNESOTA: It's possible Brett Favre won't even throw a TD pass to Sidney Rice this season. By the time Rice gets back from injury, Favre may be on the shelf. He won't last 17 weeks. BTW, I'm really rooting for Toby Gearhart to do well, I really liked his power running style at Stanford last season.
DETROIT: If they were in the NFC West, they'd challenge for the division crown. Jahvid Best is a stud, and Stafford takes the next step.
CHICAGO: Who does Cutler throw it to, when he's not throwing it to the other team? Knox? Hester? Not impressed. This may be Lovie's swansong, which sucks because I admire him.....alot. He can come to Oakland after we fire Cable. :)
NEW ORLEANS: Offense keeps clicking, but defense won't be the same without Darren Sharper. And they better not lose Brees. Can you name their #2 QB?
ATLANTA: My comeback pick for 2010. Healthy Turner and Ryan to go with White, Gonzalez, et al, and I think they'll do very well. Of course, I picked Atlanta to play Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLIV....shows what I know. :)
CAROLINA: Matt Moore. My jury is out. RB's keep getting hurt, and I'm ticked they didn't keep Josh Vaughn (Hermitage, U of R).
TAMPA BAY: Quick---name their wideouts.
SAN FRANCISCO: I LOVE Mike Singletary. Alex Smith? It's time for him to put up or shut up. A healthy season out of Frank Gore will do wonders.
ARIZONA: Good move cutting Leinart. Bad news? You're left with Derek Anderson. I may regret picking Larry Fitzgerald for one of my fantasy teams.....
SEATTLE: They only finish third because.....
ST. LOUIS: With the first pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.......
NEW ENGLAND: If Randy Moss pulls an Oakland on them, they'll be fine with Welker and Edelman. Defense is young.....but I think that's a positive.
NEW YORK JETS: MOST, MOST, MOST overrated team of 2010. The Colts try to win their regular season game and the Jets aren't even in the playoffs. They jettison leaders like Thomas Jones, Leon Washington, and Alan Faneca, give Revis the preseason off basically, and Rex Ryan can't shut up. 9-7 tops, 8-8 more likely.
MIAMI: I can't get fired up over Chad Henne. If he does better than I think he will, this team might finish 2nd instead of the Jets, but neither make the playoffs.
BUFFALO: Edwards can throw the deep ball. C.J. Spiller is a stud. But who's blocking?
BALTIMORE: My alternate AFC Super Bowl choice. Flacco has so many weapons now. Imagine the Ravens DEFENSE being the question mark......wow.
PITTSBURGH: They survive September, get Ben back, and still miss the playoffs. They will be a tough win for anyone who does get the "W" over them. Love Mike Tomlin.
CLEVELAND: Delhomme has a one-year resurgence, and Josh Cribbs runs up and down every field he can find. But it's only enough for six wins.
CINCINNATI: One word---MELTDOWN. Second most overrated team of the year. T.O. and Chad won't survive the season together, and Cedric Benson? Well, I'll believe him when I see him duplicate '09. Prediction: Marvin Lewis is out after lackluster, super-disappointing season.
INDIANAPOLIS: See Super Bowl paragraph......
TENNESSEE: Watch out. I really think Vince Young is ready and Kenny Britt is going to explode onto the scene this year. This is a gut call, but I trust Jeff Fisher. He wouldn't have placed so much hope in Young if he didn't know a payoff was coming.
HOUSTON: Will battle Tennessee for 2nd in the division, but both teams make the playoffs by winning their NFC matchups and games outside the division.
JACKSONVILLE: Sorry, Jack. Jones-Drew can't do it all; they go 0-6 in the division.
SAN DIEGO: They win the division by default. Norv Turner is their coach, which guarantees a playoff exit (See: Dallas and Wade Phillips above).
KANSAS CITY: Jamaal Charles gets help from Thomas Jones, takes some pressure off Matt Cassell, and their running game helps turn the franchise around to a seven-win season.
DENVER: Calling Tim Tebow. How about the resurrection of John Elway? It's gonna get ugly in the Rockies.
OAKLAND: Boy, I really want my boys to improve, but, even with Jason Campbell at QB, the wideouts are STILL Murphy and Heyward-Bey and Darren McFadden is still in uniform. McClain looks good, and at least Russell and Fargas are gone. Still another 10 plus loss season, though.
So, what do YOU think? :)
Showing posts with label Peyton Manning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peyton Manning. Show all posts
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Monday, October 22, 2007
Gee Peyton, couldn't you have let me down gently?
I mean, I know I look seven months pregnant and I REALLY want to lose some of the gut, but dang!
Peyton, you're no help at all!! But you sure are funny!
Peyton, you're no help at all!! But you sure are funny!
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Super Bowl XLI
Well, that didn't take long.
Just as my bro warned me during our pre-game chat on my way home from the station, watch out for Devin Hester.
7-0, Bears.
Peyton better calm the offense down (false starts) and get into a rhythm.
COMMERCIAL: Bud Light takes the lead with "Rock, Paper, Scissors".
They talked about rain all afternoon on the Super Bowl Today, and with 11 minutes left, 1st quarter, it's a comin' down.
BTW: Kudos to CBS, who actually made a four-hour pregame show not seem like four hours. Great segments on Walter Payton and Brian Piccolo, the kidney donation of a former teammate in Dallas, and Katie Couric's report on Hines Ward.
SPEAKING OF KATIE COURIC: I can already hear the media blogosphere.....
"Look at her hairdo! Chet Huntley is rolling over in his grave, Cronkite is rolling over in his recliner."
GIVE ME A BREAK! But that's another story for another time.....
Manning eludes pressure, sends it downfield, Reggie Wayne is WIDE OPEN...touchdown! But, here we go again, the point after is botched! 7-6, early on.
COMMERCIALS: Fed Ex does the same thing as last year, only not cavemen, it's astronauts. The comet saved the spot from being really lame.
Bud Light and the auctioneer. EXCELLENT spot. It takes over #1, with their other spot 2nd.
FUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!-----Well, well....how the momentum swings! Colts get the ball. WAIT! Colts return the favor. Addai never had it---Alex Brown was all over him.
THOMAS JONES!!!!!!!-----one carry, 52 yards from the Big Stone Gap native, who, a year ago, was considered on his way out of Chicago, as they looked to Cedric Benson for the future. The city likes him now.
Grossman to Muhammed. Touchdown, Bears. Around three Colts to boot. 14-6, da Bears.
COMMERCIAL: Snickers....let's see. Gross, funny with the chest hair part, and the gay community is gonna scream. Chevrolet....good spot.
YIKES!!! DAVE & OPRAH!!!! Better than any commercial so far.
Game action-----in the pouring rain. The more it rains, the closer the Vince Lombardi Trophy moves to the Bear sidelines. Peyton looks really shaky. Like the pass to Wayne was the exception and not the rule.
FUMBLE!!!!!! The Colts are back in Bear territory. What a shot with the helmet!!
But it doesn't help. Three and out, try now to pin the Bears back deep. (Remember the coffin corner?? No one does that anymore.) 1:46 to go. And they do. First down at the four.
Anyone smell a Super Bowl record for fumbles???
Whoa. Tait down. Benson down. Inhale moment for Chicago. John St. Clair is in for Tait, as another UVA grad makes an appearance (see Greta? I actually would mention them!). Thomas Jones being the other, of course.....
There's not been a wilder opening quarter of a Super Bowl, that's for sure. Nine seconds left, back to the Colts.
GREAT LINE: Phil Simms....commenting on stars of a new CBS series being in the stands for the game...in the rain....."If it were a hit show, they'd be in a suite."
First Quarter Ends: Chicago 14, Indy 6.
COMMERCIAL: Wonder if there's an opening at GoDaddy.com in marketing? Shhh, don't tell wifey!!
We need to take Joseph Addai seriously. 7 rushes, 38 yards so far on the vaunted Bear "D".
He leads them to a field goal, and it's 14-9.
COMMERCIAL: Well, ain't that a kick in the head!! Excellent Bud spot with the dog winning the heart of the ladies' float.
QUESTION?:---How far away from the Grammys will you be next Sunday night? :)
Game is settling down now. Nice stop on 3rd down by Sanders. Chicago to punt, 9 1/2 to go until we ignore Prince. It's just pouring. Are they really coming back to Miami for another one?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nantz and Simms; they're great!
Simms: You're looking at your computer and saying 'oh, the rain should be gone in about 20 minutes....'"
Nantz: I forgot to tell you I failed meteorology class.
Simms: You? Fail? You'd give the teacher an apple to change the grade!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colts are settled down now, even in the rain. Remember when the Bears played the Eagles in the Fog Bowl many years ago? The cameras are beginning to take a wettin'.
TOUCHDOWN! Rhodes bulls his way on three carries to take the lead for the first time. 16-14, and yes, Peyton, it's too early to go for two.
COMMERCIAL: A medical spot has never quite looked that way. But I've already forgotten their website. The spot didn't work. I remember the characters, but not the sponsor.
At 7:44PM, the Colts take over again after a Bear three and out. As wild as quarter one was, the second quarter is about as "normal" as it can be in a South Florida rain.
Addai again, this time a nice reception and jive. Two minute warning.
COMMERCIAL: "Connectile Dysfunction". Pretty good one, Sprint.
BIG turnover.....Colts could have taken a five or nine point lead, but FUMBLE!!! Bears can try a two-minute drill.
No, they won't. Grossman FUMBLE!! Back to Indy. Urhacler, a BIG stop to force a field goal attempt. Vinatieri MISSED. He's human! He's human in a Super Bowl! Wow!!
HALFTIME: Indy 16, Chicago 14.
First trip in the blogosphere...remember I said Katie Couric would take ANOTHER beating? Check this out. Message to blogger: It's Hines Ward. He plays at Heinz Field. Just a little football note.
Now time to avoid the halftime show AGAIN THIS YEAR!!
Other channels......
SPEED CHANNEL: Monster Trucks
ESPN: Figure Skating
ESPN2: World's Strongest Man
FOX: X-2, X-Men United
QVC: My sweetheart, Lisa Robertson!!!!!
and I have to give a shout out to my daughter's favorite:
ANIMAL PLANET: Puppy Bowl 3
UPDATE: Here's Lisa's bio page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Second half is ready. Missed Prince singing. Mission accomplished.
Do the Colts have it in hand if they score a TD on the opening drive and take six or seven minutes off the clock?
Here's a thought: first team to finish building their ark wins.
I'm telling you----Addai is a factor tonight. GREAT job by the O-line to get him the hole. He's my MVP pick at the moment.
Look at the clock, folks....we're already under eight minutes to go.
SIMMS: "And Jim, it's not stopped raining." (see earlier in blog the Nantz/Simms diatribe). These guys are equal to Gumbel/Simms, behind Summerall/Madden. I LOVE Dick Enberg, but he never had that four-star analyst with him. That's certainly not his fault.
That was the ugliest 24 yard field goal I've seen in awhile.
COMMERCIAL: "Meet The Robinsons"...opens March 30 and looks very promising.
Also...Coke's spots are all different. There seems to be no marketing scheme, like Bud Light. When Bud Light shows five spots in a Super Bowl, there is at least a little congruency. The Sheryl Crow/Revlon spot is pretty good. If for no other reason, you can look at Sheryl Crow.
Bears FINALLY have the ball and seem aggressive. They are SO lucky to be only five points down. Oops! Finally a sack by the weather, assisted by McFarland. Oh, dear, Grossman is looking like the mid-season Grossman. You've GOT TO BE ABLE to successfully snap the ball.
Boring commercials give me a chance to teach wifey what a "two-possession game" is. The Colts better make this a "two-possession game", or Chicago is gonna bite them...in spite of Grossman.
Dang, Rhodes is making his claim for MVP. The three big runs to the second TD, and now ripping off 36 yards. How about eight more and a facemask?
Did you see anyone say or write in the past two weeks that the key to the game would be:
"THE COLTS RUNNING GAME"????
Good Lord.....third and goal at the ten. They MUST get in the end zone this time. Another field goal is a BIG victory for the Bears. Run on third down, and almost gets Rhodes in!
But, alas, ANOTHER field goal. It's good and they hit the kicker. Running into the kicker doesn't provide an automatic first down, though, after seeing the replay, I'd like to know the ref's definition of "roughing the kicker". Maybe he's looking for blood or something.
COMMERCIAL: EXCELLENT spot for T-Mobile! "I'm sorry, is that your Dad??" Barkley gets dissed!!!!
So far:
1) Bud Light "Auctioneer"
2) T-Mobile "Wade and Barkley"
3) Bud Light "Rock, Paper, Scissors".
.....Colts with a STUPID penalty, and the Bears set up in great field position. Rex and company better do something with it.
Offensive Plays: Indy 63, Chicago 23 Wow.
Chicago's answer to Addai/Rhodes is Jones, now the workhorse with Benson out. Colts almost got to Grossman (sure knocked him down)....the only way to keep Rex from being completely rattled is to run the ball. Hey, good job by Grossman to elude several Colts.
FG attempt for the Bears this time. 44 yards...weather doesn't matter, and it's 22-17. Bears now need a three and out from their defense!!!
Harrison....challenge. He CAUGHT THE BALL. With possession, he's dragging both feet. Should be overturned. Great camera work by CBS. No doubt about that one.
Big third down now, especially if they get a first down. And they do, thanks to Wayne. That challenge could be big before it's all over.
End of three: Colts 22, Bears 17.
Colts' plan now: Move the chains, move the chains, eat the clock, eat the clock. But NOT a false start. 2nd and 13. Bears finally get some pressure on Manning and Harrison limps off.
13:38 to go, back to the Bears. The first holding penalty of the night.
Mooooooushin Muhammed with a great catch and run, and Bears are back in business.
NO THEY ARE NOT----INTERCEPTED! TOUCHDOWN COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, there's your Grossman moment.
BUT WAIT-----it's challenge time again. Remember, irrefutable evidence is needed to overturn the turnover (sorry, that just kinda came out....)
Another GREAT camera moment for CBS, and Nantz is right, they could have gone down to the field and check the divot where the cleat came down.
Colts....29-17. No one has come back from more than ten points to win a Super Bowl. Either the Bears make history, or they're history.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHT: Is this the lamest year for Super Bowl commercials or what??
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just went to NFL.com and voted for Joseph Addai as MVP.
Hey, look, another interception! Bob Sanders in the house----but there's a flag. GREAT article on Sanders in the Richmond paper yesterday. Too bad I CANNOT FIND IT at their site.
Bears back with the ball with 7:20 to go. Jones goes to 100 yards rushing, but probably too little, too late.
Hmmmm....I'm beginning to think Rhodes could be MVP. How about BOTH as co-MVPs??
Time for the NFL commercial contest winner......2:01 to play. Hey, it was very good!!! I rank it at #4.
And the final two minutes dwindle away.....
SO:
1) Tony Dungy becomes the third person to win a Super Bowl as a player and a coach. He's the first African-American to win it. Much maligned after Tampa Bay fired him, Indy immediately went for him and tonight, it's payoff for the entire organization.
2) Peyton Manning is NOT this generation's Dan Marino.
3) They won with DEFENSE and a RUNNING GAME. 50 years from now, history will look back on this team and say: What??!!?? They won??!!?? But they didn't play Colts football.
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And finally.....on a personal note, here's the real reason I rooted for the Colts tonight.
My best friend at church growing up was a big Colts fan. He went thru the ups and downs of Bert Jones, playoff disappointments, the middle of the night move, Ron Meyer coaching, Mike Pagel at quarterback.......and saw Peyton and company mature into a Super Bowl contender.
Tonight, a shout up to heaven, where Mike looks down and sees his Colts finally win the big one.
Congratulations, Mike. This one's for you. :)
Just as my bro warned me during our pre-game chat on my way home from the station, watch out for Devin Hester.
7-0, Bears.
Peyton better calm the offense down (false starts) and get into a rhythm.
COMMERCIAL: Bud Light takes the lead with "Rock, Paper, Scissors".
They talked about rain all afternoon on the Super Bowl Today, and with 11 minutes left, 1st quarter, it's a comin' down.
BTW: Kudos to CBS, who actually made a four-hour pregame show not seem like four hours. Great segments on Walter Payton and Brian Piccolo, the kidney donation of a former teammate in Dallas, and Katie Couric's report on Hines Ward.
SPEAKING OF KATIE COURIC: I can already hear the media blogosphere.....
"Look at her hairdo! Chet Huntley is rolling over in his grave, Cronkite is rolling over in his recliner."
GIVE ME A BREAK! But that's another story for another time.....
Manning eludes pressure, sends it downfield, Reggie Wayne is WIDE OPEN...touchdown! But, here we go again, the point after is botched! 7-6, early on.
COMMERCIALS: Fed Ex does the same thing as last year, only not cavemen, it's astronauts. The comet saved the spot from being really lame.
Bud Light and the auctioneer. EXCELLENT spot. It takes over #1, with their other spot 2nd.
FUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!-----Well, well....how the momentum swings! Colts get the ball. WAIT! Colts return the favor. Addai never had it---Alex Brown was all over him.
THOMAS JONES!!!!!!!-----one carry, 52 yards from the Big Stone Gap native, who, a year ago, was considered on his way out of Chicago, as they looked to Cedric Benson for the future. The city likes him now.
Grossman to Muhammed. Touchdown, Bears. Around three Colts to boot. 14-6, da Bears.
COMMERCIAL: Snickers....let's see. Gross, funny with the chest hair part, and the gay community is gonna scream. Chevrolet....good spot.
YIKES!!! DAVE & OPRAH!!!! Better than any commercial so far.
Game action-----in the pouring rain. The more it rains, the closer the Vince Lombardi Trophy moves to the Bear sidelines. Peyton looks really shaky. Like the pass to Wayne was the exception and not the rule.
FUMBLE!!!!!! The Colts are back in Bear territory. What a shot with the helmet!!
But it doesn't help. Three and out, try now to pin the Bears back deep. (Remember the coffin corner?? No one does that anymore.) 1:46 to go. And they do. First down at the four.
Anyone smell a Super Bowl record for fumbles???
Whoa. Tait down. Benson down. Inhale moment for Chicago. John St. Clair is in for Tait, as another UVA grad makes an appearance (see Greta? I actually would mention them!). Thomas Jones being the other, of course.....
There's not been a wilder opening quarter of a Super Bowl, that's for sure. Nine seconds left, back to the Colts.
GREAT LINE: Phil Simms....commenting on stars of a new CBS series being in the stands for the game...in the rain....."If it were a hit show, they'd be in a suite."
First Quarter Ends: Chicago 14, Indy 6.
COMMERCIAL: Wonder if there's an opening at GoDaddy.com in marketing? Shhh, don't tell wifey!!
We need to take Joseph Addai seriously. 7 rushes, 38 yards so far on the vaunted Bear "D".
He leads them to a field goal, and it's 14-9.
COMMERCIAL: Well, ain't that a kick in the head!! Excellent Bud spot with the dog winning the heart of the ladies' float.
QUESTION?:---How far away from the Grammys will you be next Sunday night? :)
Game is settling down now. Nice stop on 3rd down by Sanders. Chicago to punt, 9 1/2 to go until we ignore Prince. It's just pouring. Are they really coming back to Miami for another one?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nantz and Simms; they're great!
Simms: You're looking at your computer and saying 'oh, the rain should be gone in about 20 minutes....'"
Nantz: I forgot to tell you I failed meteorology class.
Simms: You? Fail? You'd give the teacher an apple to change the grade!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colts are settled down now, even in the rain. Remember when the Bears played the Eagles in the Fog Bowl many years ago? The cameras are beginning to take a wettin'.
TOUCHDOWN! Rhodes bulls his way on three carries to take the lead for the first time. 16-14, and yes, Peyton, it's too early to go for two.
COMMERCIAL: A medical spot has never quite looked that way. But I've already forgotten their website. The spot didn't work. I remember the characters, but not the sponsor.
At 7:44PM, the Colts take over again after a Bear three and out. As wild as quarter one was, the second quarter is about as "normal" as it can be in a South Florida rain.
Addai again, this time a nice reception and jive. Two minute warning.
COMMERCIAL: "Connectile Dysfunction". Pretty good one, Sprint.
BIG turnover.....Colts could have taken a five or nine point lead, but FUMBLE!!! Bears can try a two-minute drill.
No, they won't. Grossman FUMBLE!! Back to Indy. Urhacler, a BIG stop to force a field goal attempt. Vinatieri MISSED. He's human! He's human in a Super Bowl! Wow!!
HALFTIME: Indy 16, Chicago 14.
First trip in the blogosphere...remember I said Katie Couric would take ANOTHER beating? Check this out. Message to blogger: It's Hines Ward. He plays at Heinz Field. Just a little football note.
Now time to avoid the halftime show AGAIN THIS YEAR!!
Other channels......
SPEED CHANNEL: Monster Trucks
ESPN: Figure Skating
ESPN2: World's Strongest Man
FOX: X-2, X-Men United
QVC: My sweetheart, Lisa Robertson!!!!!
and I have to give a shout out to my daughter's favorite:
ANIMAL PLANET: Puppy Bowl 3
UPDATE: Here's Lisa's bio page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Second half is ready. Missed Prince singing. Mission accomplished.
Do the Colts have it in hand if they score a TD on the opening drive and take six or seven minutes off the clock?
Here's a thought: first team to finish building their ark wins.
I'm telling you----Addai is a factor tonight. GREAT job by the O-line to get him the hole. He's my MVP pick at the moment.
Look at the clock, folks....we're already under eight minutes to go.
SIMMS: "And Jim, it's not stopped raining." (see earlier in blog the Nantz/Simms diatribe). These guys are equal to Gumbel/Simms, behind Summerall/Madden. I LOVE Dick Enberg, but he never had that four-star analyst with him. That's certainly not his fault.
That was the ugliest 24 yard field goal I've seen in awhile.
COMMERCIAL: "Meet The Robinsons"...opens March 30 and looks very promising.
Also...Coke's spots are all different. There seems to be no marketing scheme, like Bud Light. When Bud Light shows five spots in a Super Bowl, there is at least a little congruency. The Sheryl Crow/Revlon spot is pretty good. If for no other reason, you can look at Sheryl Crow.
Bears FINALLY have the ball and seem aggressive. They are SO lucky to be only five points down. Oops! Finally a sack by the weather, assisted by McFarland. Oh, dear, Grossman is looking like the mid-season Grossman. You've GOT TO BE ABLE to successfully snap the ball.
Boring commercials give me a chance to teach wifey what a "two-possession game" is. The Colts better make this a "two-possession game", or Chicago is gonna bite them...in spite of Grossman.
Dang, Rhodes is making his claim for MVP. The three big runs to the second TD, and now ripping off 36 yards. How about eight more and a facemask?
Did you see anyone say or write in the past two weeks that the key to the game would be:
"THE COLTS RUNNING GAME"????
Good Lord.....third and goal at the ten. They MUST get in the end zone this time. Another field goal is a BIG victory for the Bears. Run on third down, and almost gets Rhodes in!
But, alas, ANOTHER field goal. It's good and they hit the kicker. Running into the kicker doesn't provide an automatic first down, though, after seeing the replay, I'd like to know the ref's definition of "roughing the kicker". Maybe he's looking for blood or something.
COMMERCIAL: EXCELLENT spot for T-Mobile! "I'm sorry, is that your Dad??" Barkley gets dissed!!!!
So far:
1) Bud Light "Auctioneer"
2) T-Mobile "Wade and Barkley"
3) Bud Light "Rock, Paper, Scissors".
.....Colts with a STUPID penalty, and the Bears set up in great field position. Rex and company better do something with it.
Offensive Plays: Indy 63, Chicago 23 Wow.
Chicago's answer to Addai/Rhodes is Jones, now the workhorse with Benson out. Colts almost got to Grossman (sure knocked him down)....the only way to keep Rex from being completely rattled is to run the ball. Hey, good job by Grossman to elude several Colts.
FG attempt for the Bears this time. 44 yards...weather doesn't matter, and it's 22-17. Bears now need a three and out from their defense!!!
Harrison....challenge. He CAUGHT THE BALL. With possession, he's dragging both feet. Should be overturned. Great camera work by CBS. No doubt about that one.
Big third down now, especially if they get a first down. And they do, thanks to Wayne. That challenge could be big before it's all over.
End of three: Colts 22, Bears 17.
Colts' plan now: Move the chains, move the chains, eat the clock, eat the clock. But NOT a false start. 2nd and 13. Bears finally get some pressure on Manning and Harrison limps off.
13:38 to go, back to the Bears. The first holding penalty of the night.
Mooooooushin Muhammed with a great catch and run, and Bears are back in business.
NO THEY ARE NOT----INTERCEPTED! TOUCHDOWN COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, there's your Grossman moment.
BUT WAIT-----it's challenge time again. Remember, irrefutable evidence is needed to overturn the turnover (sorry, that just kinda came out....)
Another GREAT camera moment for CBS, and Nantz is right, they could have gone down to the field and check the divot where the cleat came down.
Colts....29-17. No one has come back from more than ten points to win a Super Bowl. Either the Bears make history, or they're history.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHT: Is this the lamest year for Super Bowl commercials or what??
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just went to NFL.com and voted for Joseph Addai as MVP.
Hey, look, another interception! Bob Sanders in the house----but there's a flag. GREAT article on Sanders in the Richmond paper yesterday. Too bad I CANNOT FIND IT at their site.
Bears back with the ball with 7:20 to go. Jones goes to 100 yards rushing, but probably too little, too late.
Hmmmm....I'm beginning to think Rhodes could be MVP. How about BOTH as co-MVPs??
Time for the NFL commercial contest winner......2:01 to play. Hey, it was very good!!! I rank it at #4.
And the final two minutes dwindle away.....
SO:
1) Tony Dungy becomes the third person to win a Super Bowl as a player and a coach. He's the first African-American to win it. Much maligned after Tampa Bay fired him, Indy immediately went for him and tonight, it's payoff for the entire organization.
2) Peyton Manning is NOT this generation's Dan Marino.
3) They won with DEFENSE and a RUNNING GAME. 50 years from now, history will look back on this team and say: What??!!?? They won??!!?? But they didn't play Colts football.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And finally.....on a personal note, here's the real reason I rooted for the Colts tonight.
My best friend at church growing up was a big Colts fan. He went thru the ups and downs of Bert Jones, playoff disappointments, the middle of the night move, Ron Meyer coaching, Mike Pagel at quarterback.......and saw Peyton and company mature into a Super Bowl contender.
Tonight, a shout up to heaven, where Mike looks down and sees his Colts finally win the big one.
Congratulations, Mike. This one's for you. :)
Saturday, December 30, 2006
And on the last Saturday night of the year......
....I reflect back upon the trip back in time my brother and I had today, as we took part of the afternoon and drove up to Beaverdam, our hometown. I've done this at least a dozen times or so over the years, but today's trip was THE MOST SURPRISING one I've ever experienced.
You always expect to see new homes being built, since the town is only 40 to 45 minutes from Richmond in a very popular suburban county. Hanover is a "two-part" county. The western portion has always been very rural, and Beaverdam is at the most northwestern point of the county, so the farthest away from Richmond. The other side of Hanover (which is basically cut down the middle by Interstate 95) is much closer to the eastern side of Richmond, so it was developed much earlier. So, by 1985 when I left Beaverdam for college, my home was still in its quaint rural setting, while Mechanicsville in Eastern Hanover had almost become overdeveloped commercially on Route 360 around a high school, and houses were popping up here and there.
Well, Hanover leadership apparently went from liberal to conservative when the questions of developing Western Hanover came up. By this time, Glen Allen had been transformed from a quaint historical village into a large conglomerate of an area that need three different zip codes.
LARGE commercial development, then the advent of many subdivisions, cause "Richmond" to creep closer and closer to Western Hanover. This growth all took place in neighboring Henrico County, so Hanover avoided the development issue, but had become more accessible for people working in Richmond who didn't want to live the city life.
So, in the past 20 years, houses started to pop up, first along Route 33 between Glen Allen and Montpelier (the "enemy" town of Beaverdam in the Southwest quadrant of the county), then around Montpelier, then on Route 715, the main road between Montpelier and Beaverdam.
So, today, a trip to Richmond from my old home in Beaverdam is like 35 minutes, rather than 45 minutes plus, since Ukrops has a store much further west on Staples Mill Road, etc. :) It also means more jobs are closer to Beaverdam, too.
All that being said, it seems major home development finally broke through up at home. There's an old dirt road just above my old homestead (which was a parsonage then, by the way), and I'd read some development was on it, so we took the dirt road to its end, turned around and came back out. Back at the road, you resume straight on 715 and a tenth of a mile to your right is my one and only childhood home.
Just as we're preparing to slow down to view as much of the house and its surroundings as we can while driving, I let out the biggest "WHOA!!!" I've ever shouted. To the left, was a road. A new road. A road where the woods my brother played in for years used to stand. Seeing a new house somewhere is one thing. Seeing A NEW ROAD almost in front of my old house is another. I stopped at it, then got back on 715 so we could see the house. A young couple bought it a few years back and the outside looked basically unchanged (they've added a nice shed where Dad used to park the school bus) but I've been told the inside has lots of TLC. :)
I drove down to the next dirt road, went by Union Baptist Church, and around the old dirt road where on more than one occasion I drove a little too fast, trying to make sure I got my girlfriend home by her midnight curfew! I knew a new subdivision had been started at the other end of the dirt road, near her old house; I had driven in what parts had been established a few times over the years.
Then, thanks to the thinking of Uncle Frank, he put two and two together. At the end of the main road of the subdivision has been another road. Turn right, and it ends after just a few lots. Turn left, and there were new lots up for sale over the years, but that road wasn't very long, coming to a point where, unless you owned a dump truck, you had no business trying it.
Well, the dump trucks obviously made it through to the other side, because this was the road that, now completed, came out almost in front of the parsonage. Nearing that road's end today I told my brother, "we've never seen our house from this view before!!!"
So once where the woods reigned supreme and young boys acted like Daniel Boone, not needing a game controller and a Playstation to stimulate imagination, now stands many very nice homes (big enough that we can't afford one of them!) with more lots available.
So the growth continues. Exponentially. If I return once a year from now on, I fully expect to see accelerated growth and will be surprised if i do NOT see it. The exact opposite of the mindset I've had for 21 years.
Oh, and in the old cowpasture next to our back yard where we played football, baseball, et al.....about where the barbed wire fence always was.....we saw some heavy equipment parked there. So, soon, where cows once mooed and where I once walked a half-mile behind the house to a pond at the back of the cowpasture, should be replaced with rooms.
As Peyton Manning says in the latest MasterCard commercial to the guys who let the piano (I think) get away from the moving truck and it heads downhill to its inevitable demise, "They're not saying 'boo', they're saying 'mooooooversss..'".
The times, oh they are a'changin.
You always expect to see new homes being built, since the town is only 40 to 45 minutes from Richmond in a very popular suburban county. Hanover is a "two-part" county. The western portion has always been very rural, and Beaverdam is at the most northwestern point of the county, so the farthest away from Richmond. The other side of Hanover (which is basically cut down the middle by Interstate 95) is much closer to the eastern side of Richmond, so it was developed much earlier. So, by 1985 when I left Beaverdam for college, my home was still in its quaint rural setting, while Mechanicsville in Eastern Hanover had almost become overdeveloped commercially on Route 360 around a high school, and houses were popping up here and there.
Well, Hanover leadership apparently went from liberal to conservative when the questions of developing Western Hanover came up. By this time, Glen Allen had been transformed from a quaint historical village into a large conglomerate of an area that need three different zip codes.
LARGE commercial development, then the advent of many subdivisions, cause "Richmond" to creep closer and closer to Western Hanover. This growth all took place in neighboring Henrico County, so Hanover avoided the development issue, but had become more accessible for people working in Richmond who didn't want to live the city life.
So, in the past 20 years, houses started to pop up, first along Route 33 between Glen Allen and Montpelier (the "enemy" town of Beaverdam in the Southwest quadrant of the county), then around Montpelier, then on Route 715, the main road between Montpelier and Beaverdam.
So, today, a trip to Richmond from my old home in Beaverdam is like 35 minutes, rather than 45 minutes plus, since Ukrops has a store much further west on Staples Mill Road, etc. :) It also means more jobs are closer to Beaverdam, too.
All that being said, it seems major home development finally broke through up at home. There's an old dirt road just above my old homestead (which was a parsonage then, by the way), and I'd read some development was on it, so we took the dirt road to its end, turned around and came back out. Back at the road, you resume straight on 715 and a tenth of a mile to your right is my one and only childhood home.
Just as we're preparing to slow down to view as much of the house and its surroundings as we can while driving, I let out the biggest "WHOA!!!" I've ever shouted. To the left, was a road. A new road. A road where the woods my brother played in for years used to stand. Seeing a new house somewhere is one thing. Seeing A NEW ROAD almost in front of my old house is another. I stopped at it, then got back on 715 so we could see the house. A young couple bought it a few years back and the outside looked basically unchanged (they've added a nice shed where Dad used to park the school bus) but I've been told the inside has lots of TLC. :)
I drove down to the next dirt road, went by Union Baptist Church, and around the old dirt road where on more than one occasion I drove a little too fast, trying to make sure I got my girlfriend home by her midnight curfew! I knew a new subdivision had been started at the other end of the dirt road, near her old house; I had driven in what parts had been established a few times over the years.
Then, thanks to the thinking of Uncle Frank, he put two and two together. At the end of the main road of the subdivision has been another road. Turn right, and it ends after just a few lots. Turn left, and there were new lots up for sale over the years, but that road wasn't very long, coming to a point where, unless you owned a dump truck, you had no business trying it.
Well, the dump trucks obviously made it through to the other side, because this was the road that, now completed, came out almost in front of the parsonage. Nearing that road's end today I told my brother, "we've never seen our house from this view before!!!"
So once where the woods reigned supreme and young boys acted like Daniel Boone, not needing a game controller and a Playstation to stimulate imagination, now stands many very nice homes (big enough that we can't afford one of them!) with more lots available.
So the growth continues. Exponentially. If I return once a year from now on, I fully expect to see accelerated growth and will be surprised if i do NOT see it. The exact opposite of the mindset I've had for 21 years.
Oh, and in the old cowpasture next to our back yard where we played football, baseball, et al.....about where the barbed wire fence always was.....we saw some heavy equipment parked there. So, soon, where cows once mooed and where I once walked a half-mile behind the house to a pond at the back of the cowpasture, should be replaced with rooms.
As Peyton Manning says in the latest MasterCard commercial to the guys who let the piano (I think) get away from the moving truck and it heads downhill to its inevitable demise, "They're not saying 'boo', they're saying 'mooooooversss..'".
The times, oh they are a'changin.
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