v2, d391:Dad gum it

It's nearly football season. Everyone is reacting as though football's been gone forever, and at LAST it's finally here.  But in reality, we didn't actually miss any football with the lockout.  We just missed a month of free agent signings. Training camp started pretty close to on time.  And teams scrambled like mad to get two months' of personnel work taken care of in two weeks. It was kind of fun to try to keep up with it all.  In fact, maybe they ought to make the off-season two weeks long every year!

And, in spite of myself...I'm excited for football season.  Again. Even after the crapfest that was last year.  And it was, folks. It was terrible. When we were 4-0 last season and I said, "Yeah, but we're lucky we're winning.  If we don't make some major improvements, we'll be a 6-10 team," a lot of folks said I was just being negative. 

A few months later, we were a 6-10 team.  And the losses were so outrageously idiotic that it became almost a joke.  As a fan, I couldn't even enjoy those thrilling rally-from-twenty-points-down-in-the-fourth-quarter games (and yeah, there were more than one) because I already knew we were going to lose.  And not just lose, but lose on a bone-headed, SportsCenter blooper type of play.  Every time. 

Then the owner would come out and say, "Look at all these losses, they sure are close!  I think we ought to stay the course."  Despite the fact that we've been losing bone-headed fourth-quarter losses for the past three seasons.  Despite the fact that we have practically invented ways to lose games we  ought to have won for the past three years.  We're probably headed in the right direction.  We should just stay the course. 

By the end of the year, I just couldn't even care any more.  I know a lot of legitimate die-hard Texans fans felt the same way.  We were tired of the promises, tired of the potential, tired of the lost-it-on-the-last-possession games that kept showing up in the L column.  We were tired of teams losing just because they didn't "show up" on a regular basis. 

We were tired of the Texans.

And like a guy getting out of a bad relationship, I was pretty convinced I wasn't going to let myself get excited again. Not until some major changes happened.  I'd heard all the lingo before, read all the promises and the optimism from players and coaches for the past couple of years about how we were finally turning the corner, and I knew I wasn't going to set myself up for another major disappointment like last season. 

Then training camp started.  And dang me, I can't help but be excited. First Texans preseason game is a week from Monday, and I'm excited to see it.  I want to see the rookies.  I want to see how the defense responds to the new system.  I want to see the guys we're going to cut.  I just want the guys with the cow on the side of their heads to get out there and play football again.  And yeah, we'll probably be mediocre again.  I look at our schedule and I see maybe 8 wins from a team that's talented enough to win 10-12 games.  We're probably the same inconsistent Texans that we've been the last four seasons of Coach K's reign.  Maybe we'll be better.  But history says we probably won't.  But blast it all, I'm willing to give 'em another chance. 

I need help. 


(Incidentally, for the third year in a row I've said that this is the year I'm finally going to get really into college football.  We'll see how that goes)

v2, d274: "I just want it to be a good game."

That's generally what I say before the Super Bowl.  Because let's face it, the teams I care about never get there.  I have actually liked both the Packers and the Steelers the last few seasons, but I was leaning slightly toward the Pack a) for sentimental reasons, and b) because I have more Packer fan friends than Steeler fan friends. (Facebook responses before and after the game confirmed this)  And we usually get a pretty good game.  It seemed for quite a while when I was younger the Super Bowl was always a blowout, and around the 2000s that has completely reversed.  Tonight's game was good, though I wasn't paying as full of attention as I usually do because of watching/playing with Robbie throughout the night.  Last year, we went to see some friends and coworkers and had a great time at their Super Bowl party.  The men hung out in the room with the big TV while the women hung out with the children in the front room (which had a smaller TV).  Everybody had a great time.  We had an invite to the same party, but Kim didn't feel like sitting in a car for 40 minutes at this stage of the pregnancy (I don't blame her) and I didn't want to leave her here alone when, really, the baby could come at pretty much any time (I don't blame me, either). 

Now, in the past, I've always been pretty bummed out when I haven't had a Super Bowl party to go to.  The only time since we've moved to Houston that it has happened was that fantastic Pats/Giants game.  I was pretty miserable watching it alone, and then I hurt my back somehow.  But man, what a finish! 

Anyway, I talked to Kim about making tonight a party for the three of us.  I knew Robbie would be happier with a special occasion since the church didn't have AWANA tonight, either. (He's always really bummed when there's no Sunday church)  So we told Robbie we'd have a football party after his nap, and while he (and I) took an afternoon rest, Kim made some no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies.  Then we ordered some Papa John's pizza and cheesesticks (possibly Robbie's favorite food) for dinner and set out bowls with our other favorite finger-food snacks. Fortunately, he's at the age when he'll still eat carrot sticks and broccoli even when there are potato chips and goldfish on the table.  Also fortunately, I'm once again to the age where I'll eat carrot sticks and broccoli even when there are potato chips and goldfish on the table.

We had an enjoyable evening at home.  Kim cut my hair at one point in the evening and talked on the phone with her mother and her sister while Robbie and I played with trucks and diggers while the game was on TV.  And Fox managed not to air too many commercials that would force me to change channels.  Which is good, because the Puppy Bowl is just getting bizarre these days. 

So Operation Impromptu Super Bowl Party for Three, while possessing an unfortunately long title, was ultimately a success.  Here's hoping we can get Robbie up and out of bed in time to head to school tomorrow morning after letting him stay up until the end of the football game. 

v2, d166: Warning: System Unstable

Technically, today should have been my day off due to the extra-long Monday workday.  But I came in to work, because there was plenty I needed to do that I knew I wouldn't be able to get done the entire rest of the week.  And I had a good, productive, steady day at work.  Sometimes, the empty Monday building makes it easier to get things accomplished.  I'm good with what I was able to take care of today. 

Unfortunately, I'm paying for it.  My body is on the brink of crashing unless I get some major rest in, pronto.  This isn't a terribly unusual thing; over the past few years, I've averaged just over one "crash" like this per year.  It comes from not sleeping and lots of working, which I've been doing.  So I'm going to pull the plug and call in sick tomorrow, because I've been here enough times to know that pushing myself for one more day is probably going to lead to a total system failure.  And I've got multiple rehearsals from Wednesday through Friday and a church beach party on Saturday. 

Get your rest, kids.  Or sooner or later, your body will make you take a day off!

*****

By the way, what a great weekend of football games!  I at least partially watched just about any game that happened to be on when I was home all weekend long.  Currently watching the Chiefs/Chargers nightcap to the season opener of MNF. It generally surprises people, but I really do love football. 

So keep that in mind when you read this.  Ryan Lambert is a very funny hockey blogger who is pretty much known for being snarky and incendiary, so if there's a way to get others riled up while making his point, he probably will.  Obviously, I don't completely agree with Lambert's conclusion...but he does make some pretty strong arguments, nonetheless.

Also, because I know most of you won't read all of that, or if you do probably won't click on the links therein, here's a really interesting report that outlines exactly how much of what is shown during NFL telecasts.  For example, in 60 minutes of clock time, there's an average of 11-13 minutes of actual football being played.  Surprisingly interesting behind-the-scenes look at what all goes in to the production of a live NFL telecast. 

v2, d46: Turns out, Opening Night can be kinda dull for blogging...

That's not to say that Opening Night was dull or bad, but really, aside from "The show went well!" and "People loved it!" and "We ate fruit, cheese, and sandwiches!" and "The floral arrangement looked kinda like it was vomiting tulips!" there's just not a lot to talk about. I think I mentioned yesterday how proud I am of everybody, and how much I like this show. I'm ready to not have to watch it anymore, though. I've seen it every night for the past two weeks (and parts of it most afternoons as well). I'm ready for a Fox-break.

Those of you who see or have seen the show, I'd love to talk about it sometime. And I'll try to make sure you've seen the whole thing before I call you and ask for your opinion! *embarrassed*

Fantastic day for hockey games. Three games, all of them tight, all of them featuring third-period comebacks and lead changes, and two of them featuring overtimes. Two of them saw teams going home, and even though one of the teams golfing tomorrow is my Avs, I have to be pretty happy with the way they played this year. I mean come on, they were supposed to royally suck. See my season preview. Just about every expert on the continent had them finishing 13th-15th in the conference. To take the #1 seed to six games, no matter how bizarre the circumstances, showed a ton of heart and quite a bit of promise for the future.

Also, this is the second straight year the Pens came back from down 3-0 in game six to win their first round series on the road. Quirky little stat.

Hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weather. It's starting to get warm again in Houston.

Finally, I totally trust the Texans' scouting staff. I'm pretty crazy about our picks this year. I'm a little puzzled as to why we picked up TWO tight ends, but I'm sure it'll all make sense in the end.

That, or we really just don't care what we do with our seventh round pick.