Football
and
Blasts From the Past

I notice in looking back at these Blasts From the Past that -- from the vantage points of three or four or five years later -- the football discussions turn into something totally meaningless.

Walter Payton played all those years for the Chicago Bears, causing record books to be rewritten and having us bemoaning that his teammates were never good enough (until very late in his career) for them and him to make it to the Super Bowl, and today he's barely a footnote.

Playoff scenarios for the pros, the BCS controversies in college football -- changing fortunes make those past write-ups seem mysterious indeed.

Here's something that MAY meet the challenges of posterity:

After Week 14 of the 2009 NFL season, two teams are still undefeated.  The New Orleans Saints of Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Reggie Bush, and Jonathan Vilma.  The Indianapolis Colts of Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney and (the injured) Bob Sanders.

There's a reason I boldfaced the names of Payton and Manning.  Those names will stand up to the test of history.  The others:  maybe, maybe not.

How historic would it be for two undefeated teams to meet in the Super Bowl?   That one I think we'd remember forever.

So -- just in case it happens -- just in case the undefeated Saints and the undefeated Colts keep winning until the 2010 Super Bowl in Miami -- let it be recorded that this was the year that:

Brett Favre came out of retirement (again) to lead a Minnesota Vikings team that also starred defensive stalwart Jared Allen (they went to Jared's!) and running back Adrian Peterson.

The defending NFC champion Arizona Cardinals appeared to be making a return trip to at least the playoffs, a startling development given that the Cards were a laughingstock for decades prior to 2008.  QB is Kurt Warner.

The Dallas Cowboys looked like a good team until going into their annual December swoon.  QB is Tony Romo.

The San Diego Chargers looked like a so-so team until going into their annual December rally.  QB is Philip Rivers.

The Cincinnati Bengals broke out of their own laughingstock doldrums by sweeping a division that included the Baltimore Ravens (QB Joe Flacco is in his sophomore year, and the defense is still led by Ray Lewis), the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, hampered by a concussioned-QB Ben Roethlisberger and an absent defensive great, Troy Polamalu.  The Cleveland Browns are not worth mentioning.  Bengals QB is Carson Palmer.

The NFC East is being led currently by the Philadelphia Eagles of Donovan McNabb (Michael Vick is on the roster following his time in prison for cruelty to dogs), while the New York Giants of Eli Manning are still in the hunt along with the Cowboys.  The Redskins are hurting.

And the only division not referred to yet is the AFC East, where the Patriots are having an unusual slump but are still narrowly leading the division.  Tom Brady is back from surgery, but the defense is rebuilding and the offense is being led by Brady and Wes Welker.  Randy Moss is coming off a bad game in which he gave little effort following a disciplinary problem.  The resurgent Miami Dolphins are struggling back to respectability under a leadership consisting of Bill Parcells in the front office and Coach Tony Sparano, who came over with Parcells from the Cowboys a couple of years ago.  Dolphins QB is Chad Henne, a Michigan University grad that shows promise.  And then there's the Jets, whose rookie QB is Mark Sanchez, another guy with possibly a bright future.

Let's see how THIS post looks, three or four or five years from now!

Blasts From the Past

Dec. 15, 2004 The Christmas gift guessing contest continues, AND Twoberry calls "Calling All Pets!"

Dec. 15, 2007 A warning about Orchard Bank that might still be useful.

I Got Through
The Weekend
(Again)

And now it's time to go to work to rest up after my three days off.

Beethoven's Ninth.
Dinner in LaBelle with the relatives (six hours driving time).
A three-hour Christmas party at a great Italian restaurant with Barbara's crowd from the veterinary clinic.

All I did was miss a little football.

(Congratulations to Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram of Alabama.  I was delighted he won.  I would have been even more delighted if the trophy had gone to the defensive stalwart, lineman Ndamakung Suh of Nebraska, whose prowess will be demonstrated for the next decade or two as a professional in the National Football League.  Mark (Ingram) my words.  I hope I spelled Suh's first name right.)

Blasts From the Past

Dec. 14, 2004 The guessing about the Christmas gift continues.

Dec. 14, 2005 Nothing momentous, but it's interesting to look back once in a while.

Dec. 14, 2007 Ditto.  It's noteworthy that the wax job on my Prius was supposed to wax three years.  Ah, a new blog topic arises.

The Phone's Working
So Are the Speakers

Life has been tough without either.  Phone went dead Friday, right after I left a couple of voice mails for cousin and brother.  Three couples succeeded in meeting for dinner Saturday at Flora and Ella's Restaurant in LaBelle, despite interruption of phone service.  Thank goodness for emails.

And the Comcast technician fixed my speaker problems.  I slipped him an extra $20.

Both outages were due to wire-chewing by Margie.  Henceforth, when she's in my study, she will be in my lap.  Otherwise, no Margie in my study.

Blasts From the Past

Dec. 13, 2004 A contest, involving the guessing of an elaborate Christmas gift.

Dec. 13, 2006 One good way to find out who my friends are.  And it was just a four-word post!

Dec. 13, 2008 Camille Saint-Saens and Ogden Nash:  an unbeatable combination.  Who knew?

Too Much Goin' On

But I still want to record it all for posterity.  Let's see:

Last night we celebrated Christmas (because of our work schedules on the 24th and 25th of Dec) by traveling to West Palm Beach and listening to the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra's performance of my favorite symphony:  Beethoven's Ninth, aka the "Choral" Symphony.

The vocalists were so magnificent that I feel I need to list them all [later]

***************

It's approaching noon and I want to take a shower before we get in the car at 2 to go meet four relatives at Flora and Ella's Restaurant in LaBelle.  (Lotsa drivin' these days -- today's trip is 2 hours 18 minutes 'cording to MapQuest.  Yesterday's was just 1 hour 15 minutes.)

But I can't take a shower because a Comcast technician might be arriving to fix our phone and Barbara's doing errands.

I'll get the shower, but I have to wait for an adult to get here first.

****************

Tomorrow I'm going to miss the Falcons-Saints game because Barbara says I can't stay married to her if I don't go to her office Christmas party.

****************

So my three relaxing days off have turned into zero relaxing days off.

****************

I wanna talk about Tiger Woods.

Breaking News

Tiger's taking an indefinite leave from professional golf while he repairs his personal life -- specifically his marriage to Elin.

I've always honored his request for privacy during this horrible time in his life, and will continue to do so.

The rumors and the speculations and the tabloid nonsense and the sanctimonious bleatings of some members of the press are probably MORE annoying to me than they are to Tiger because he's intelligent enough to ignore them completely.

I'm ignoring them, but only mostly.

I do want to say one thing:  however many bimbos he has slept with, I'm not interested in what they have to say, and I don't care how many there have been.  AND -- I'm feeling positive that there are a lot of bimbos wagging their tongues that are flat out lying.

If he's had as many affairs as they're talking about, Tiger Woods is more of a superman than I even thought he was.

But who the hell knows?  I the hell don't care.  I just want Tiger to get his life right.  He's working on it, and I wish him the best.

Tiger does not owe me (part of his heretofore worshiping public) any explanations or details.  He's already admitted more than he needs to as far as I'm concerned:  that he's been guilty of infidelity.  There is still a lot of howling from the press that he needs to submit to a public grilling and admit everything he's done.

No, he doesn't.

WE need to let him and his family alone and let them heal, if possible, or whatever they need to do.

Blasts From the Past

Dec. 12, 2005 "Vegans I Have Known" (It's not about vegetarians.)

"Invictus"

We had dinner last night at a British friend's house, and there was a rugby match on TV.  Our host happens to be a rugby coach.  Little did I know that if I had sat down with him to watch, and maybe get an explanation of how that game works, I'd have been better prepared for the new Clint Eastwood film, "Invictus," which I saw today.

No matter.  Because if and when you see this film, you won't have had the opportunity that I passed up, and I can honestly tell you that even without understanding rugby, I still was thrilled with this film, which I thought was going to be a biopic about Nelson Mandela.

It's both.  It's a sports movie and it's a Mandela character study, and it works on those and other levels.  Morgan Freeman made me forget he was Morgan Freeman.  He's been wanting to play Mandela for a very long time, and he's made the most of his chance.  Oscar is waiting.

Time does not permit a proper review, but the story line is simple.  Mandela is elected the first black president of the Union of South Africa, after having served 27 years in prison during the terrible years of apartheid.  Civil war was feared, but under Mandela's leadership, the black and white portions of South African society learned to coexist peacefully.

And I didn't know before I saw this movie how important rugby was in that effort.  I'll just leave it at that.

Here is some ...

Source Material

"Invictus," an 1875 poem by William Ernest Henley

On the other hand, Wikipedia's explanation of rugby didn't help me either.  I guess you could just see the movie.

Blasts From the Past

Dec. 10, 2005 "Scientology -- Ugh!"  I've already given you too much to read today, but this is an interesting item nonetheless AND I'm behind on my Blasts, since I didn't publish yesterday.  So let's just say this link is here for historical purposes only.  Unless, that is, you have more time for reading today than I do.  (We're going to a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony tonight at the Kravis Center.  It's the day we're celebrating Christmas, because of our work schedules on Dec. 25.)

Dec. 11, 2005 "Berryism" Twoberry invents a religion.  Well, not really.  But this got a lot of comments.

Dec. 11, 2007 Movie reviews of "Bee Movie" and "No Country for Old Men."  I liked only the latter one, which happened to garner a best-picture Oscar, so this helps you know that you can trust my taste.

OK, I'm caught up.  By the way, I skipped over a few of the older blogs that I don't think are at all interesting.  I hope that tells you something.