Dogs And Cats Living Together...

One of my favorite expressions to adequately describe a chaotic situation or a situation that will become chaotic is to steal a line from Bill Murrey and Ghostbusters, that being "Dogs and cats living together." But to truly enjoy the line you need to first hear the line delivered by Bill himself in the movie and to my delight, I have stumbled across that clip...enjoy!

NFL Week 12.1 Review

I've missed a few weeks of my NFL reviews, but I think my opinion's on the NFL are about as good as anyone else's this year and that is not worth shit. The NFL is all over the board and with a week in between each game, that each game of every week in the NFL is under such open and intense analysis, a person can seemingly be swayed by the 'trends', something I tried not to fall into...but at the same time, even not following the 'trends' a person can still be misguided by their perceptions of the NFL...

Like the Detroit Lions. Here's a team I thought was playing well and looking good. Once 6 and 2 but after a 3 game losing streak are now 6 and 5. Sure 2 of the 3 last loses were against winning teams but the lose to Arizona may have been the clock striking midnight for the Lions. They now travel to the Metrodome to take on a Viking team that has won its last 3 out of 4 and completely embarrassed Eli Manning and the New York Giants. The murmur of 'playoff possibilities' are beginning to perculate in Vikingland because after Detroit the Vikes play San Fran, Chicago, Washington and Denver. A win versus Detroit puts them at .500 and one could think that a good team could go 3 for 4 against their remaining opponents and that would put the Vikes at 9-7 which may just be enough to eek in as a wild card in the NFC. How's that for crazy? Do I think this is likely? No...but it could be possible. Let's face it... the Vikes aren't that good...but San Francisco is awful, the Bears aren't good and the Broncos are fodder on any given Sunday. Then you even consider the Redskins, who likely will be fighting for a wild card spot as well, that game may be the ticket to the playoffs for both teams.

Indy-Jacksonville, probably the game of the week. If Indy wins they have all but secured their ticket to the playoffs. If Indy loses, they are in a dogfight for winning the AFC South with the Jags. I think Indy is pretty banged up and losing Dwight Freeney may be costly for the Colts against good opponents. The game is in Indy and that may be the intangible that the Colts need to win the game.

Of course the Green Bay-Dallas game was last night. A very entertaining game and I do have to give the Packers credit...I thought they were going to get pwned but they play very well. And after watching last night's game, I realized why the Packers are able to do so well...their offensive line. Favre and Rodgers both, for the most part, had ample time in the pocket and the Packer wide receivers are extremely athletic. Both Driver and Jennings had good catch and runs against the Cowboy D. But I also think that the 2007 Packers could very well be the 2006 Bears, that being a one-year, one-hit wonder.

Dolphins favored by a point at home against the Jets. I have Thomas Jones on my fantasy team and is a reason why my fantasy team sucks...the Jets suck are are actually underdogs in a game against a winless team...how sad is that for a team?

Chargers play in Arrowhead...Chargers suck on the road...big time. I picked up Kolby Smith on my fantasy team...the last rookie running back the Chargers faced broke the NFL single game rushing record...I'm expecting big things from Kolby.

The Patriots go to Baltimore and are favored by 20 points. I'm thinking I would take the Pats and give the points. Baltimore can't score if it tried and their defense is a shell of what it was...the Patriot defense will be battling the Patriot offense for the most scores in that game.

The only other game that even remotely interests me is the Broncos-Raiders game and of course I am pulling for the Raiders. Go Raiders!

Just In Time For Christmas: Winter

So the weather has finally broken and warmth can no longer be found on the barren wasteland. And now that it has finally been cold for a good week now, it's time to add some snow. The forecast is for 3-5 inches by tomorrow night. Of course I don't believe meteorologists are ever right in this region and like to 'over-hype' the weather, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a zero to a dusting...but of course they could be ultra-low and the next thing you know we got 16 inches of snow...either way, they probably aren't right and can't be trusted. I will believe any forecasts for cold weather because it is freakin' cold already...

TV Show Finds Mysterious Footprints

I was just skimming through the internet news when I came across this story about a television production crew, doing an 'investigative' show on the Yeti...likely trying to prove it's existence or not. And wouldn't you know it...they stumbled across some, thought to be, some Yeti footprints. The Yeti, like Bigfoot, are 2 creatures that about 12 people on the planet believe in and as a result, 1,000,000 television documentaries are made about Bigfoot, Yeti's, the Loch Ness Monster, UFO's and aliens. And what does every single television documentary have in common in it's investigation about any of the above listed fictional entities? They can present enough circumstantial, non-physical evidence to warrant another television documentary.

Footprints? Gee, I wonder where they came from and how fortunate it was for a television crew that just happens to be doing a documentary on Yeti's to stumble across them. Surely these footprints weren't fabricated by a human for publicity...that would be very deceitful and surely no one in the media would be so nefarious as to do anything as such.

Cowboys-Packers On NFL Network

Last year I mentioned how great it was to have DirecTV and the NFL Network rather than cable when I heard the whining from all the Viking and Packer fans when one of their games was on the NFL Network.

Well now you hear the pleas on a more national level because this week's Thursday night game is the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys versus the 10-1 Green Bay Packers is on the NFL Network. Apparently my local cable provider is just one of almost all cable providers that do not carry the NFL Network, which then means that anyone that does have cable television most likely does not get the NFL Network ... and of course are whining. Well, all I can say is HA HA!

Week Of Excess Concluces

Today I am back at work from essentially a week off, a week of where I was drinking too much and staying up too late almost every night. Here's a quick recap of my break...

Saturday: A friend from out of town is here, a group of us check out his brothers band and drink until 3 AM.
Sunday: Up by noon and watch NFL from noon until 11 PM ... drinking.
Monday: Worked 1/2 day, took it somewhat easy in the evening, a few beers during the Monday night game.
Tuesday: Day of rest...Took it easy.
Wednesday: Saw Zappy perform at Dempsey's Public House and then partied like rock stars until 4:30 AM.
Thursday/Thanksgiving: Grilled Turkey, played some poker at night, dead tired and passed out at 2 AM.
Friday: Stay home, drank and screwed around on the computer until 3 AM.
Saturday: Played poker and stayed up until 3 am...drinking.
Sunday: Up by noon, watched NFL all day and drank...

And now today... I am actually fatigued from my break and I didn't do anything except stay up late and drink... boy do I need a break! To make coming back to work seem even more sucky is that the weather for the past week was relatively pleasant and mild but the forecast has that all ending today with the weather beginning to turn colder and crappy.

Chargers Manhandle Ravens

The Chargers looked as sharp as they have all year and pounded the Ravens 32-14. Shawne Merriman, who must have seen the numerous replays of Maurice Jones-Drew laying him out last week, came to play. The Ravens forced Phillip Rivers to beat them and Rivers did just that...Gates had 2 touchdowns and Chambers had one as both were essentially wide open for all touchdown receptions. Rivers had no turnovers, probably a huge reason the score was so lop-sided. LaDainian Tomlinson had 77 yards but did finally crack 10,000 yards for his career. The Charger defense looked good...something that can't be said for most games this season.

The Bears beat the Broncos and the Chiefs lost to the Raiders so the Chargers have sole possession of first place in the AFC West. The Chargers play in Kansas City this week and is a big game for both teams. The Chargers can all but eliminate the Chiefs with a win whereas the Chiefs can get back into the playoff hunt with a win.

Thanksgiving Break Starts Early...For Me :)

I had originally planned on taking Wednesday thru Sunday off for the Thanksgiving holiday, but my son became ill and I was needed to stay home with him starting today... I know, it's a tough assignment, but the upside is that I had an extra day off from work prior to the Thanksgiving day holiday...which is always nice.

Posting will be light during this time...

But I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving holiday...

Chargers Lose To Jags: No Longer Even 'Good'

The Chargers have fully descended to being a mediocre to a poor team. The Chargers have shown that they can not win on the road against any team and that any team can beat the Chargers, regardless of the location.

The Jaguars didn't have to punt at all in the first half and had the ball almost twice as long as the Chargers. The 2nd half, the Chargers had multiple opportunities to come back in this game and even a chance to tie the game at the end...but Rivers, who was playing fairly well, ended up throwing an interception with well over a minute left on the clock and a timeout left.

There is absolutely no game left on the Chargers schedule that a person can look at and say that it is a guaranteed win for the Chargers...the Chargers are really that bad. A person doesn't have to look too hard to begin blaming certain people, and I have stated numerous times, it is Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell. It seems that the entire team is never playing well, Phillip Rivers has looked downright awful at times this year, the offensive line is disgusting, Tomlinson, to this point, has had his worst NFL season, Shawne Merriman is becoming more vocal about his discontent with the team but that may be because a 5 foot 2 inch, 1/2 the size of Merriman, Maurice Jones-Drew absolutely planted Merriman on one of the Jags touchdown scores and that very play will likely be on many highlight shows so Merriman will be the subject of much criticism and the entire defense is a joke - thanks Ted Cottrell.

There isn't many 'secrets' any more as to how to beat the Chargers... Phillip Rivers can't throw on the run or under any sort of pressure, the Charger defense is full of holes and you can attack them either with the run or the pass and the offensive line is very easy to over power and the defense can dictate the game rather than the Charger offense.

Being a Charger fan in an area where I am oftentimes the only Charger fan a person may see, I have grown tired of the question asked to me by strangers every week...that being, "What's the deal with the Chargers?" because I get asked that at least 5 times every Sunday as I watch the Chargers lose. I need get a card printed up that says "Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell have ruined the Chargers" so that I can simply hand out those cards because I have literally grown tired of answering that very question multiple times every Sunday and throughout the week...

The Chargers host the Ravens next week... I really don't know how the Chargers can win this game because the Raven defense won't even have to break a sweat against the 3 and out Charger offense and on the flip side of the coin, the Charger defense has shown that inept offenses can still be effective... this game will likely be a boring game to watch filled with plenty of punting and field goal attempts.

Bonds Tested Positive In 2000

So I read the indictment against Bonds and the prosecution has a failed drug test taken by Bonds in November 2000 which is even earlier then when Bonds admits to taking 'flaxseed oil' and using a cream in 2002. And the use of the flaxseed oil and cream was to help him cope with his father's bout with cancer, so that he could sleep. Yeah, that's the ticket... Even if I knowingly was cheating, the reason was to help me cope with my father's fight with cancer, yeah that's it...and after he passed away, I still needed the 'recovery' items to help me with the pain...yeah that's it...so even if it is cheating, which it isn't, it wasn't because I knowingly wanted to cheat it was because of external circumstances...Why can't you understand this?

Bonds Indicted

Well, well, well...

Bonds was just indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. There is a glimmer of hope that justice might yet be served. I think the most telling line of the article is this:

"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes,"

Which has me to believe that the prosecutors have to have the goods on Bonds...and if they have anything but the 'smoking gun' it will probably, unfortunately give Bonds supporters one last gasp. Not sure if Greg Anderson is finally going to roll on Bonds and provide first hand knowledge of shooting Bonds up and get an accurate description of how much and how frequently Bonds was shooting up during his home run chases...

Of course Selig will follow the case and takes this very seriously... serious enough to erase all of Bonds' records?

SNL: Brian Williams

Yes, I know I am behind in reviewing the Brian Wiliams SNL episode...but with last week's episode being a rerun with Bon Jovi and the writer's strike in full swing, odds are we will be seeing plenty of reruns for a while...also, because local programming went long and my DVR stopped recording at midnight, I did miss the last 15, 20 minutes of the show...

But, overall, I think the Brian Williams show has likely been the best SNL of the season so far... none of the sketches were insanely funny, but they also weren't just stupid, which is what many sketches are.

Of course the show started with an Amy Poehler as Hillary Halloween sketch. Pretty unfunny and to insure it not ever being funny, ended with Barack Obama getting to say "Live From New York..." to kick the show off.

Williams monologue was alright, as he mocked his appearance of being a news man reading words off a teleprompter, they show you that he is a news man reading words off a teleprompter...

Maybelline for men...a fake commercial that is trying to increase makeups demographic by 50% by appealing to men. The commercials this season have all been not very good, including this one.

I was actually somewhat impressed at Williams' performance...playing the fireman character during Bronx Beat wasn't too bad and it seemed almost natural for Williams. I think I've mentioned this before, but does Amy Poehler have to be in every sketch? Bronx Beat has been done before... in fact, I enjoyed it better when it involved Adam Sandler and Jay Mohr and part of the show was a give away (like free dinner at a steakhouse) if you gave the fink of the week (or something like that) 'a beating'.

Next up was a Publisher's Clearing House prize give-away sketch where the entire sketch is Kristen Wiig providing the humor as Brian Williams is an excitable, mult-million dollar winner. The sketch seemed a little too long and after a while, it just seemed as if Wiig was a little over-exaggerating to the point of not being funny...there is a fine line between just the right amount of physical comedy for a sketch and over-the-top. Wiig was precariously close to over-the top.

The SNL Digital Short was a look at a 'typical' day for Brian Williams. Although many of the gags in the short seemed predictable - like Williams leaving an encouraging message to someone but is actually left for himself to listen to at the conclusion of the day - but was still pretty good. Having Williams throwing pennies out of his window at Matt Lauer and Al Roker was likely the highpoint of the sketch.

The Weekend Update was fairly unmemorable... Armison did have a somehwhat funny bit about the writer's strike... we producers make $20 million and the writers make $200,000, we are not sure if they can find anywhere in the middle... I admit that I am not fully informed as to the exact numbers involved in the writer's dispute, but this sketch did seem to best simplify the situation...the writers are getting screwed and want to get some residual money from continued profits from their created content...seems fair to me...

There was a quick iPhone spoof which wasn't too bad and the last sketch I got to see was a democratic debate sketch that didn't have Hillary or Obama featured in it, but essentially all the 'losers' sitting around talking about how they were going to attack Hillary. Overall a pretty weak sketch.

According to the episode recap, I missed one sketch and the musical act Feist...which means I probably didn't miss much but will have to wait for the rerun in a week or two to catch the final minutes.

As a final comment on Brian Williams' performance, I had read that he would do his nightly news each night and then work with the SNL crew almost all night for the week leading up to his show. I think he really wanted to put forth his best effort and I think he did really well.

NBC is no longer posting clips of their shows on YouTube, so to get videos of the episodes is a little tougher and rumor is that NBC is going to provide the clips again but using their own site rather than YouTube. But I did find a couple of clips, enjoy them while you can...

Colts Lose To Chargers

The Chargers should be the laughingstock of the NFL for 2 consecutive weeks but can thank Adam Vinateria for finally missing a chip-shot, game winning field goal. The Chargers picked off Peyton Manning 6 times, ran a kickoff return and a punt return for a touchdown...saying that, one would think the Chargers would have crushed the Colts... but no, because Norv Turner is a moron the Charger offense has yet to take the field since before the bye week and the Chargers only score a win against the Colts because the Colts lost the game and the Chargers had nothing to do with winning the game.

Charger optimists point quickly to the Chargers 5-4 record and first place in the AFC West... but Charger realists, such as myself, see the Chargers as an inept team that, if they should luck out and make the playoffs will be a non-factor at all this season.

NFL Week 9 Review

It's taking me a while to get back after still being shell-shocked from witnessing the Charger debacle that was last week....but we must move on...

The line for the Colts at San Diego is the Colts at -3 1/2... are you kidding me? I have just put every cent I have on that game and of course my money is on the Chargers covering... ha ha... of course not... The Colts should absolutely destroy the pathetic Charger defense. The Charger offense hasn't had a good game since prior to the bye week...

The Steelers are having a season that reminds me of other years when the Steelers are just laying in the weeds and are kind of forgotten until the next thing you know they are in the Super Bowl.

Dallas plays Green Bay in it's second consecutive Thursday night game a week after Thanksgiving. That game may be the NFC's version of the Colts-Patriots game of last week with the top 2 teams in the conference hooking up for a regular season game.

I think Detroit isn't necessarily a good team, but I think they are proving that they are not a bad team... and a lot of times bad teams beat themselves, and by just being competent, they are better than several NFL teams. They got Arizona this week and then the Giants and Packers... if the Lions are going to try and be contenders they need to take care of the Cards and prove their mettle against the Giants and Packers.

Cowboys-Giants, a big NFC East showdown. I haven't given any credit to the Giants because I think they aren't that good...but I do think they are better than they were when the season started. The game is in the Meadowlands and could very likely be the game of the week...

Finally, we will get a little break from the non-stop story of the Patriots being the greatest team of all-time ... at least until they get beat... but only because the Pats are on a bye before they resume kicking every other team in the NFL asses.

Witnessed: Vikes' Peterson Runs Over Chargers

What a great game this was going to be. My friend that we were staying with scored us some awesome seats for the San Diego - Minnesota game. Visitor sideline, very close to the visitor tunnel, right on the 20, 15 rows up. Have to give Chad some mad props for that score. And I was really excited to get to see the San Diego Chargers live...something that is very hard to do living the Barren Wasteland that I do.

So me and the 'crew' (4 of us total) get to the Metrodome about an hour before kickoff, we get to watch the teams warmup (I do enjoy watching the warmups...you never know what you'll see). But after the warmups the San Diego Chargers couldn't be found. The offensive and defensive lines were horrible. Rivers was pressured all game, Tomlinson had but 50 yards, Gates had 1 catch for 10 yards and Vincent Jackson dropped an easy long pass. Shawne Merriman was a total non-factor.

On the flip-side of the coin, the Vikings had to run but one play...handoff to Adrian Peterson. Peterson would barely be brushed at the line and then would run the rest of the field untouched and did so 3 times for touchdowns and set a single game rushing record of 296 yards.

What this proves more than anything is that Ted Cottrell is incapable of adjusting his defense. Once the Vikings found the 'magic play' (handoff to Peterson) they run it multiple times and the Chargers looked hapless every time. It was noted after the Kansas City game how once the Chargers were exposed on slant patterns Kansas City just kept running slants.

Did I mention how both the offensive and defensive lines were absolutely horrible for the Chargers? The Chargers are now in the history books as being the single-worst rushing defense in a game...Congratulations and I got to witness that LIVE!

Cromartie's 109 yard field goal attempt-runback to end the first half was fun but even at that point the Chargers had done nothing. There was absolutely no Charger offense for the entire game.

This game wasn't really which team was better but more of which coach is dumber because Viking's fans aren't pleased with their coach right now but it is fairly evident that Childress is probably an upgrade from Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell.

Anyways, I still had a good time... I took a ton of pictures with this pair of binoculars that is also a digital camera...well, the quality wasn't as good as I would like so it is probably the last time I use them with the purpose of taking pictures...but they still worked pretty good as a small set of binoculars.

And in case I forgot, both the offensive and defensive lines for the Chargers were awful! Shawne Merriman had a great non-tackle that Peterson brushed off with little effort as he then ran for one of his long touchdown runs.

Bonds Boycotting The HOF?

Could Barry Bonds actually do something I would love to see happen? That is, he says he would boycott the MLB Hall Of Fame if they displayed his record setting homerun ball branded with an asterisk. If I was the Hall Of Fame I would begin construction of an entire addition that would simply display the asterisk-branded ball, complete with asterisk laden wallpaper, carpet and, if possible, lighting. That would hopefully insure that Bonds will never be inducted into the hall of fame.

ESPN's Monday Night Commercial

In my continuing quest to bitch about ESPN and what a joke of a 'sports' channel they have become, I also have noticed that their Monday Night Football game is nothing more than a commercial for something with a football game being played in the background. Last week they had Russell Crowe on pimping his rugby team. Last night they not only had Brett Favre's wife on pimping her book during the first half but then had Vince Vaughn on during the second half. And of course, while these people are being interviewed, promoting their product(s), the football game goes on and little mention of what is actually happening in the game unless a big play happens...then they will break away from the interview just long enough to mention the football game and then get right back into the interview/promotion.

It will not be long before ESPN will not even have play-by-play or commentators doing any of their events, but rather have interviews booked for the entire game and have the game as a 'backdrop' to their full-time promotion.

I truly believe that the 'Sports' in the ESPN initial should be removed and they will be more accurately referred to as the Entertainment Programming Network...with the term 'entertainment' used extremely loosely. And even better yet, they should rename themselves YRSPN, which of course stands for the Yankees and Red Sox Programming Network.

World Series Over, A-Rod Upstages BoSox?

Thank god the World Series has ended and ESPN can devote more coverage to the Yankees...and just to show you how 'Yankee-oriented' ESPN is, the 'big story' on (and according to) ESPN Monday morning wasn't really that the Red Sox won the World Series but the fact that A-Rod is opting out of his contract with the Yankees, thus upstaging the Red Sox World Series win...even though several players all came out yesterday to announce their free agency but because A-Rod is a Yankee - and I am beginning to think ESPN loves the Yankees but not A-Rod. Give me a freakin' break. If a player can 'upstage' a team's World Series victory, then it's pretty obvious that the World Series victory a team just won wasn't that big of a story. But of course ESPN will use any Yankees news as 'big news' and thus, this is why ESPN has the mentality that A-Rod upstage the Red Sox because it has forced ESPN to spend most of it's sports coverage time devoted to A-Rod and how he is a free agent rather then celebrate Boston's World Series victory.

The only good thing about the World Series ending is that means the MLB season is over and ESPN can begin it's countdown to Yankees spring training and their first regular season meeting with the Red Sox in 2008... I can hardly wait.... (Saying this as I try to keep from vomiting)

SNL 2007 Season: 3 Episodes, Watch Them Again

The only bright spot with me being a little bit busy here lately is that I haven't had to use any of my spare time to watch any new SNL's lately. Is this how network shows operate these days? Have 3 new episodes to start out the season and then repeat all three episodes again? I am almost confident we will see these same episodes at least one more time this season...seems extremely weak to me.

NFL Week 8 Review

I am very busy this week and will just have my quick recap of NFL week 8...

The big story this week has nothing to do with last week's games...most seemed fairly low-key and almost predictable outcomes...but the big story is the big Indianapolis-New England game this week. The two undefeated goliaths of the NFL will square off in Indy for what could potentially be a very big game for both teams. I don't think the loser of this game has to abandon their quest for the Super Bowl but this game could likely determine who gets home field advantage for the playoffs and that may be key.

I was pleased to watch Green Bay beat Denver on a 1 play bomb in overtime to give the Broncos the loss. The Broncos have gotten lucky in all their wins, with maybe the exception the week prior vs Pittsburgh, and almost screwed up the game last night by trying to go for the game winning touchdown on a Cutler keeper with no timeouts left and then he comes up short. But the Broncos have the 'rush the kicker on the field and snap the ball in 8 seconds' fire drill down and were lucky enough to send the game to overtime. But was that Dre Bly that got burned for the game-winning touchdown? The same Dre Bly that many sports 'experts' said would make sure no one could pass on the Broncos because Bly and Champ Bailey are the best in the business? And by all appearances, Brett Favre had no problems throwing the ball around last night.

How bad are Miami and St. Louis? They don't play each other and by the way both these teams are playing, they may both be winless this year...although St. Louis is in the weaker division and may luck out against San Fran or even any of their NFC West rivals.

Paper tigers, teams I think have a really good record right now but are nothing but fodder for good teams... NY Giants, Tennessee and Detroit. All three teams have at least 5 wins and only 2 losses but I think all three teams are very beatable if all the chips are on the line. But the first part of being successful in the playoffs is to get to the playoffs.

As I mentioned in my Chargers-Texans recap is that I will be at the Vikings-Chargers game this Sunday. One of the 'storylines' I have heard from Viking fans is how many think Adrian Pederson is the best runningback in the league and even some of their local media talkers say that Pederson is the best runningback EVER... of course the Vikes have little to cheer about right now and are pinning their hopes onto anything they can. I hope Tomlinson has a good outing and shows these Vikings' fans who the reigning, greatest NFL runningback currently is...and he isn't playing for Minnesota.