mr. blackandwhite

Live blogging me finding out who won the Superbowl..

I wrote this yesterday morning but never got a chance to post it. So here ya go!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hey check this out. It's the Monday after the Superbowl and I still am not really sure who won the game. I did not watch one second of it all day yesterday. Before I went to bed last night I checked the little scoreboard widget that I have on the Mac just to see what happened (I kinda had to know) and when I looked at the score, it looked to my tired time-for-bed brain that the Colts had won. So I felt semi-iritated for a few seconds and then went to bed glad I had not witnessed Manning's smug face and the blue and white confetti raining down..

Now, this morning I come in to work and I overhear people talking about the game it's sounding like The Saints actually won. Really??

So here we go I'm going to go check the score and find out what the real deal is... wait for it...

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- time passes -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

31-17, Saints? Am I reading this right? I think I am! YAY!

I almost wish I had watched it now. Sounds like Manning had a melt-down and I'm sure the Peyton Face that Patriots fans all know and love was on full display. I would have liked to have seen that, mean-hearted meanie that I am. Ha. Oh well I still have no regrets about missing it. I'm sure if I had watched the game the result would have been different because the Football Gods do like to fuck with me in that way. So all you Saints fans can thank me for not watching the Superbowl yesterday. Enjoy the Superbowl title. It's something you get to keep forever no matter what. In good times and bad, that Superbowl win is there for you.. Enjoy.

I only read a couple stories to catch up but this was my favorite quote:

"But the way people were talking about him [Manning] the last two weeks was shocking, especially when you consider that his entire post-season reputation hinges on what happened in 2006, when he beat a Bears team led by Rex Grossman in a rain-soaked mess. (And he didn't even play that well, despite being named the game's MVP.) In fact, if Bill Belichick hadn't decided to force Tom Brady to play that season with junior varsity wide receivers, I'm convinced Manning wouldn't have even made it to that Super Bowl."

That's right. Is the lame-stream media finally waking up? I'm sure it's only temporary..

(GO PATS)

Pats / Ravens: ugliest 1st quarter ever

Wow the Patriots gave up an 83 yard Ray Rice touchdown to The Ravens on the very first play of the game and as amazing as it seems, things have actually gotten WORSE since then. It almost does not seem possible, how badly the Patriots are playing right now in all three phases. It's actually indescribable. And this is a playoff game for fuck's sake. 

The Ravens are up by 24-0 as the 1st quarter comes to a merciful end. Holy crap this is horridly bad.

All I can say at this point is I hope the Patriots will at least put up a fight and not roll over. Losing a playoff game at home would be painful enough, but losing because they flat out quit would be worse. 

I have faith in this team. No more typing time to send all possible positive vibes out to Foxboro.

GO PATS - TEAM OF THE DECADE

somber update:

Alright. Well. The game is over. The Pats lost. Spotting a team 24 points in the 1st Quarter is not a good way to win a playoff game. So there you go. The team simply did not have that spark and I kept waiting for them to fight back a little more. It just didn't happen. There was no counter-punch to the Ravens attack. 

I thought Edelman played his guts out, Kevin Faulk was obviously not giving in, Brady kept fighting.. congrats to those guys. I can't really say I saw that fighting spirit from many other guys though, unfortunately. 

So now it's time to re-tool and get ready for another year. The Pats had a good year. Hey they went 10-6 and won the AFC East, they made the playoffs so despite the outcome of today's game, they were a good, playoff team. As a fan that's what you want. Obviously I wish The Pats could have advanced but as much as I may want them to, the Pats can't win the Superbowl every year. 

One thing the Patriots seemed to search for all year was consistency. This was an erratic team. There are all kinds of factors that contribute to that, both on the field and off the field.. I won't go into my opinions on what some of those factors might be, I'll just say that hopefully next season they will regain that consistency that was missing this year. On the superstitious side, one thing I will be glad to see is the nautical blue uni's and Flying Elvis, all year long. Until then... one more time.

GO PATS - TEAM OF THE DECADE

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We are back. GO PATS

What a difference a year makes, eh? Last year The Patriots were 11-5 and wound up on the outside of the playoffs looking in. Making things worse, they were probably better than several of the teams that edged them out.

This year, The Patriots are 10-6 and are AFC East Champions. That's one of the things ya gotta love about the NFL. Every year things are different. 

I'll tell ya, missing out on the playoffs last year, that sucked. Fully. So this year I am feeling so upbeat and am just psyched for The Pats to be back in and competing for that chance at a Superbowl. A lot of people don't give the Patriots much of a chance, but as has been shown year in and year out, anything can happen once you make it into the Playoffs. So lets do this.

It's about a 1/2 hour till game time.

It seems like all of the talk and print and what-have-you out of the lame-stream media has been 110% focused on Julian Edelman this week. All I've read all week is how Edelman is going to have to step in for Wes Welker after his truly unfortunate injury and how is he going to do it, how are the Patriots going to adjust, what happens to their offense... yadda yadda yadda. On one hand it's kind of annoying. Since when were the Patriots a one man team? On the other hand, it keeps the focus on that one aspect of their game and the rest of the team can go about the business of prepraration without harassment. It also gives the Patriots some motivation, since it's been made clear that the prevailing lame-stream opinion is that they can't win without Welker. At least that's how I interpret it..  

Alright it's like 15 min till game time. As Tom Brady once said so eloquently, 'We're baaaa-aaack!" 

Enough with the typety-typing. See you on the other side.

GO PATS - TEAM OF THE DECADE

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It's time for the 'Who I'm rooting for in the NFL Playoffs', besides the Patriots that is, 2010 version

It's Playoff Time! Yay!! And The Patriots are back in the tourney as they like to call it. Extra Yayz!!!

So here's who I'm pulling for this weekend, other than The Pats.

AFC

New England / Baltimore: I think this is clear. Look around you.

Cincinnati / The Jersey Guys: No Brainer once again (Cincy).

NFC

Dallas / Philly: Philly. C'mon, I can't root for the C'boyz. Even though The Pats are the team of the 00's, I still can't bring myself to cheer for the team of the 90's. I can hold a grudge my friends. Maybe if Jessica Simpson were still on the sidelines.. Is she still on the sidelines? I don't pay any attention to that stuff. I'm sure Tony Romo's got a hottie rooting for him somewhere over on the Dallas sidelines, other than Wade Phillips, but he doesn't count. I'm rooting for Philly.

Arizona / Green Bay: Another pretty easy choice, Arizona. I always root for the teams that have been down for a long time, kicked around as doormats of the league forever and now have finally risen to the top. I know the feeling of rooting for a team that was bad for a looong time and then finally finds it's stride and wins three Superbowls, two of them back-to-back (*sniff* Patriots, Team of the Decade... sorry, where was I? I just got a little dust in my eye..) That's why I'll always root for teams like Arizona, New Orleans, Cincy, over teams like Dallas, Green Bay or The Steelers. (Of course, I know that's how a lot of people feel about my team now, but I'm ok with that.)

GO PATRIOTS - TEAM OF THE DECADE (get used to it because I love typing it)

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I want a Patriots Playoff berth for Christmas

The Patriots can clinch a playoff berth by winning one more game. Hopefully they will get that done today. It's hat and t-shirt day, if they get it done against the Jags. A win today will also give them an opportunity to rest up a bit next week before the playoffs begin.

This Jags team will be tough, as will the Texans next week, so let's just put the worry out of our mind and get some t-shirts and hats today in our last regular season home game.

Where did this season go? It goes by so fast..

GO PATS - TEAM OF THE DECADE

Big game in Buffalo..

Three games left and all are playoff critical. The Pats still need a road win this season and getting it in Buffalo in December is going to be a tricky prospect. I have been wondering what the weather is like up there all weekend. It's snowing here.. a-gain, dammit. It was supposed to start yesterday afternoon but when I went to bed without seeing a single flake last night I thought we were going to luck out. No such luck. I awoke to it coming down this morning. Ug I hate it... 

I got so sick of reading about the Randy Moss saga this past week. Every time I went into google reader to get an update, it seemed like every post was about Moss' performance last Sunday. Give me a friggin break. Talk about making a whole lot of something out of a whole lot of nothing.. It's getting so I can't read Pats news sites any more.. since they seem to report less and less news and more and more plain b.s. 

Even the formerly straight-up, just the facts Mike Riess seems to have become ESPN-ized.. I guess it can't be helped, since it says ESPN on his pay-check now. 

It's affecting my newspaper too, Patriots Football Weekly. With all of their writers blabbing on the various sports talk radio stations these days, I'm starting to see that influence creeping into the writing. 

Ah well what can ya do. Turn the TV on and turn the radio up for Gil and Gino.

GO PATS!!

4th Quarter of the season for The Patriots.. GO PATS

Hey what's up evera-body. Sorry I haven't written in a while. Thanks to anybody out there who still keeps this thing on their read list.

I'm just sitting here watching what has so far been a very frustrating Patriots game. The offense has shown a few occasional signs of life, but mostly they've been sputtering along. It's been a very 'WTF' kinda game. I've got Gil and Gino on the radio, as I always do, and even those guys, who are almost always upbeat, have been voicing their frustration with The Patriots play in this one.. Defensively The Pats have been hanging in. Hopefully that will continue and the offense will get on track.

With four games left, the 4th Quarter of the season is here. Anybody following the team doesn't need me to tell you this is the critical stretch. Thankfully we've got the night games out of the way, we've got those damn throw-back games out of the way, (give me Elvis and the Nautical Blue uni's any day, any time) time to focus in and bear down. The AFC East is there for the taking. 

I've been watching this team a for long time, though lotsa ups, and lotsa downs, and I've always tried to keep things on an even keel. First and foremost goal number one for me every year is always a winning season. The Pats can get to 8 wins today. Right now all I want is to get that check mark out of the way. One game at a time.

The Pats are up by four as I write this, 14-10. With the way our offense has been performing in this game, this one is certainly not a lock. We need to put another score or three on the board here in the last 12 min..

GO PATS

Pats vs Houston Oilers, no wait.. Tennessee Oilers.. er, ...?

The throwback thing continues this weekend with The Pats facing the team formerly known as the Houston Oilers. At 0 - 5, Titans fans are probably taking a week to enjoy their team pretending to be somebody else.

Despite being up against an 0 - 5 team this week, this is a game that makes me a little nervous for The Pats, primarily BECAUSE they're playing an 0 - 5 team.. I mean The Titans / Oilers gotta win a game eventually I figure.. hopefully it won't be against The Pat Patriot adorned Patriots. 

One thing that makes me a little less worried is that I seem to recall that The Pats always played pretty well against the Oilers. (I'm not going to look it up for fear of breaking the spell..) 

One interesting thing to note, it's FRIGGIN SNOWING here!!! What??? We had our first snow of the season on Friday and it's snowing now. Once again, WHAT??? It's good for football but it's really bad for my psyche. Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, March. Count em up that is SIX FUCKING MONTHS OF SNOW AND WINTER CONDITIONS. I haven't got my lawnmower put away yet. The patio furniture is still out. The shed is still in summer configuration with the snow-blower stuffed in the back where it belongs.. ACK!!

In order to give the Pats a hand, I have appealed to The Football Gods with some nice, hot chili, some fresh guacamole, a fireplace fire, and of course the usual candles, Lucky Patriots Fleece Blanket, Superbowl 36 Beer Mug and other Patriot paraphernalia, so I'm doing my part as the 12th Man. 

GO PATS

Denver, again. Dammit.

The Pats could have won that game yesterday, but playing in Denver, I can't really say I'm all that surprised that they found a way to not win. It's an away game in Denver after all where the Patriots are now 9 - 18. To be honest when I looked it up I was surprised to see that we had actually won that many games in Mile High, The Patriots Personal House of Horrors. 

Ug. 

I don't want to sound like I'm ragging the team, because that is not my intention. I'm just flummoxed about The Patriots and their continuous difficulties playing in that city. What is it about Denver?? There is no other place in the league where The Patriots seem to consistently perform so badly. What is it about that place?? 

Whatever it is about this jinx, I don't like it. So there.

And I know this is not a popular view, but I hate those throwback uniforms. Ok maybe 'hate' is too strong of a description... I don't hate the old uniforms I just hate seeing this current Patriots team wearing them. Keep Pat Patriot in the past where he belongs and let us enjoy him as a nostalgic reminder of the team we rooted for through thick and thin. I like Nautical Blue and Flying Elvis, thankyouverymuch. I don't see Pat Patriot on any Superbowl rings. How many throw-back games are left anyway?

Next up, Tennessee, where the Pats will hope to keep one of those streaks going. I won't say what it is. Superstition.

GO PATS

I can't hate Josh McD. Except for today that is.

I've never ever had any love for the Denver Broncos, and Shannon 'Send in the National Guard' Sharpe only helped to vault them right into the upper echelon of the hate list. And there they have remained, right up there with The Raiders and Miami. 

But then something weird took place in 2009..

I find that Josh McDaniels' grey hoodied presence as Denver's head coach makes hating the Broncos a lot harder for me. 

As a rookie head coach he jumped into a pretty difficult situation, taking over for a legendary head coach, Mike Shanahan, dealing with a tool of a quarterback and a fan base that appeared to be ready to run him out of town at the first sign of the slightest difficulty. 

McDaniels then donned a grey hoodie in unapologetic tribute to Bill Belichick and took his team out of the gate at 4-0, giving nothing but credit to what he learned as a Belichick understudy along the way. As a Patriots fan, how can you not like the guy? 

Of course, today at 4PM it's a different story. Disliking Josh McDaniels will not be a problem.. The game's outcome will determine how I feel about him going forward (A Patriots victory would help keep him on the not-so-bad list).

On the flip side, look at the Cleveland Browns, a team that I have always rooted for on the side. Now with Fredo Mangini down there running the show, I have to say, I can no longer root for that team and can't really say that I'm all that sorry for them at 0-4. 

When it comes to football, I can really carry a grudge.

In the meantime, big game for The Patriots today. Potential playoff seeding is for sure on the line. With RB Fred Taylor out with an ankle injury, I'm hoping to see my man BenJarvus out there on the field bashing out Patriots first downs.

GO PATS

Update: Patriots lose in OT, 20-17. Arg.

Book review: 'A View from the Booth: Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti - 25 Years of Broadcasting the New England Patriots'

Back in August (seems like forever ago) I read a most excellent book called, 'A View from the Booth: Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti - 25 Years of Broadcasting the New England Patriots,' written by Jim Baker and Chuck Burgess. I've been meaning to do a quick review of this book for a while now but I just keep getting too busy, somehow. Funny how that happens!

I started reading this book on my summer vacation, as the Patriots were preparing for their first pre-season game. It was a great way to lead into the brand new Patriots football season, and with The Pats celebrating their 50th season this year, enjoying a book about Gino Cappelletti and Gil Santos couldn't have been more appropriate. 

Now, onto the book, which I will describe as, MOST AWESOME. As a Patriots fan and a weekly listener to Gil and Gino's broadcast during Patriots games, I really enjoyed reading this book, which intertwines the history of the New England Patriots with the respective careers of broadcaster Gil Santos and player, coach, broadcaster and should be Hall of Famer, Gino Cappelletti (seriously, how is Gino not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.. People, WTF!!). 

The book describes Gil and Gino's background as youngsters, goes through the first steps of each man's early days as a broadcaster and as a pro football player and carries us all the way up to their time together broadcasting the Patriots' 2007 season (ok, that reminds me there's one chapter in the book that may give Pats fans a twinge or two while reading, but don't let it ruin the book for you!)

The book also provides a lot of great and often humorous insider stories about The New England Patriots and what goes on, and goes in, to producing a Patriots Football radio broadcast every week (I loved the stories about the team's superstitions). 

In reading this book I often laughed out loud at some of the stories these two legends had to tell about their days on the field as a player / coach and as broadcasters in the booth covering the games of my favorite team. Plus, the book includes Gil and Gino's Gormet Guide, a list of their favorite restaurants in each NFL city. You can't go wrong there, especially when Gino gives the reader permission when visiting the listed establishments to 'tell them Gino sent you'.

At under two hundred pages, 'A View from the Booth' is a quick, easy and extremely entertaining read for any Patriots fan, or a fan of the game of Football in general. Check it out. 

GO PATS

Don't believe everything you read..

I saw this on twitter:

"realpatriotsFYI RT @Adam_Schefter: That whole Rhodes-Harrison feud last week? Made up. @Rodneyh37 is an impostor, a false account. Please delete."

To be honest I have no idea what the Rhodes-Harrison feud even was. I just think it's funny seeing MSM fall all over itself. I'm like that.

Just something to think about next time you're reading something on ESPN, the bastion of journalizm..

Blapp

Well that sucked, but I guess the Jets had to win a home game against The Pats again eventually.. The sucky part of the suck is that if The Pats had made good for 7 instead of settling for 3 on one of those several trips inside the NJ Red Zone, we'd probably be talking about a different outcome to the game right now. That's why they play em I guess, but it still sucks. NJ 16, Pats 9. Blah. Lots of games left, yadda yadda yadda.

GO PATS

Tag you're it Mr Quarterback!

Adalius Thomas made a great play against The Bills last week, breaking through the Bill's O-Line and grabbing QB Trent Edwards. But with Thomas hanging on his back, Edwards refused to go down, so Thomas got him down any way he had to, eventually twisting himself over and throwing Edwards to the ground. The end result should have been a sack. Instead it was a re-donk-ulous roughing the passer penalty against Thomas and a five-thousand dollar fine to boot. I gotta call bull-f-ing shit on this one. 

I understand the league wants to protect the quarterbacks, but come on this is getting ridiculous. This is still football and you still gotta get hit sometimes. Trent Edwards didn't give up on the play, as expected, but Adalius Thomas didn't give up either and he shouldn't be penalized for it. As Thomas said in reaction to the fine, 'Do you let the guy go and let him throw the ball?' (or as I would say, 'WTF?')

Maybe this next off-season there should be a rule instituted that penalizes QB's who refuse to go down when they get touched by a defensive player. The could call it the 'Tag, you're it!' rule. 15 yards, of course.

Ok, got that out of my system...

Later today, the NJ Jets. Apparently this is their Superbowl today, or something. Does that mean The Pats could potentially be in two Superbowls this year? Awesome! No, wait, what happens when we play the Jets again this season? Whoa the Pats could be in three Superbowls all in one season? That is pretty cool! Hope we win them all.

I'm looking forward to a regular old 1 o'clock game today. This game should be interesting. I'm curious to see what the Pats have in mind for the new Jets coach and their rookie QB. I have a feeling that like last week, this game will be another challenge for The Pats, AFC East opponents always are.

GO PATS

The Mob Goes Wild

Wife: So what happened, did they win?

Me: Yup. By ONE point!

Wife: Oh my gawwd. One of those games eh?

Me: Yeah, well, all they had to do was score a touchdown, somehow force a turnover and score another touchdown, then keep the Bills from getting into field goal range, all in like 5 minutes. Which they did.

Wife: No problem!

Me: No problem.

GO PATS

"Maybe they're gonna call rouging the Quarterback.." - Roger Holman

Pats / Bills.. 45 seconds left... The Patriots erase an 11 point deficit and hold a 1 point lead.

WOW what a comeback this has been (so far...) Offense (Brady), Special Teams (Meriweather, Gostkowski).. and now we need, D-FENSE!!!

--

22 seconds left. Scary moment. The Patriots Defense touched Bills QB Trent Green Edwards (doh!). /sarcasm

D-FENSE!!!! D-FENSE!!!

--

All I can say is, WOW what a comeback that was. One for the ages. I was all geared up to bitch about the officiating (ridiculous touching, I mean... roughing the passer calls against The Pats,) and the Red Uni's (I'm all for nostalgia but I still want the Nautical Blue back..) But now I don't have to because it's all good. Patriots 25, Bills 24. YAY!

Another AFC East match-up next week against the Jets.. but for now, whew! 

I like it when The Patriots win.

GO PATS

Side notes:

I wound up having to get under the Lucky Patriots Fleece Blanket at the end of the game.

I like when the Pats cheer-babes wear those classic white cheer-babe uni's.

The Patriots 50th Anniversary mural around the bottom of the stands at The Razor is cool.

When they switched over to the Chargers / Raiders game they showed Richard Seymour wearing silver and black. I can't help but feel bad for Richard Seymour. Stuck in the black-hole of the NFL. Sorry man..

I like that the game started at 7 PM. I wish all MNF games started at that time.

I would have liked to have seen more than 30 seconds of the 50th Anniversary Team ceremony at half-time, like the whole thing would have been nice..

Patriots Post-Game: Andy Gresh - still annoying. When's Coach B's press-conf coming on..

We are a GO for New England Patriots football 2009-10. Lets rock.

Old Skoool Pat Patriot T √

3x Superbowl Champions Patriots ball-cap √

Patriots socks √

Tom Brady jersey √

Nautical Blue candle that smells like the ocean √

Lucky Patriots fleece blanket (for emergency use) √

Superbowl 36 Champions beverage mug √

Guacamole √

Salsa (medium hot) √

Chips √

Pretzels √

Beer √

Gil and Gino dialed in √

TV turned down √

Offense Defense Special Teams √ √ √

Multi-pronged dimensional running attack √

3/4 √

4/3 √

Brady to Moss √ √

We are a go.

GO PATRIOTS

Bruuuuuuuuuschi!!! Thanks Man.

A day that comes for all of our favorite players, as much as we wish it wouldn't, arrived for a true Patriots fan favorite today as Tedy Bruschi announced his retirement from football. Although he has retired as a player, something tells me we might see Tedy patrolling the sidelines wearing coach's shoes (and a gray hoodie perhaps?) in the future.. I would love to see it.

A player of Tedy's caliber does not come around very often. He has terrorized opposing offenses while wearing my team's uniform from the start of his career to the finish and I am glad to have been able to watch him play.

There are just too many incredible Patriots game memories involving Tedy to try and come up with some kind of a list, but my favorite memory of him is from the 2003 'Snow Fireworks' game vs Miami. 

I was at that game in person, way up high, but my seats were on the side of the field where Tedy made the game-clinching INT and then ran it in for a touchdown. I had a perfect view of the play and I still remember vividly the eruption of joy from the fans when Tedy made that play, and the unforgettable snow fireworks that ensued. (I actually helped get them started. Yes, it's true. Really.)

The other thing I will always remember about Tedy, the player, is his attitude, his spirit. 'Full Tilt, Full Time' is a perfect description of Tedy Bruschi; always positive, always willing to do what it takes to win, and never taking any shit. 

"We play! That's what we do! We don't talk, we play! You come to Foxboro, it's gonna be snowing, it gonna be cold... Come on in here! You wanna say all you want, you wanna change the rules, change 'em! We still play, and we win, that's what we do!" 

I always like to say I root for the laundry, but exceptional players, like Tedy, Troy Brown, Rodney Harrison.. these are players that make you proud that they are wearing your team's laundry.  

Tedy, you will be missed. I hope to still see you around Foxboro helping the Pats keep that 'Full Tilt, Full Time' attitude. From a life-long Patriots fan, thank you Tedy for thirteen years of awesome!!

GO PATS

Here's to you, Mr. Pre-Season Football Game Watcher

Today we salute you, Mr. Pre-Season Football Game Watcher!

Mr. Pre-Season Football Game Wa-aa-tcher!

While others are out on a Friday night having fun, watching a movie, or a sporting event that counts, you are at home watching a completely meaningless football game.

That's dedicaaachioon....

Acting like you know what you're looking at as you pretend to evaluate players who will never appear in a game that counts, you sit confidently in your living-room, knowing that guy, whatever his name is, will never make the team...

You're the Man!!

So here's to you, Mr. Pre-Season Football Game Watcher. Without you, pre-season football would truly have, no - meaning - at - all.

Mr. Pre-Season Football Game Waa-a-a-tcher....

GO PATS

For a meaningless game that was pretty awesome

Hey how do you make those sideways symbol things that look like a heart with the computor keyboard? It's like a sideways 'm' or something. I can't find it on the keyboard. Anyway I sideways heart symbol thing the Pats and I am glad to see them back in action, glad to hear Gil and Gino's voices calling the game and I am especially glad to see Tom Brady out there on the gridiron chucking touchdown passes again.

Yeah, it's only pre-season, but it's still great to see.

I only got to see the first half of the game on Thursday. I am on vacay with the family and was in a hotel with some tired kids so I shut the TV off after the team headed in at half-time. I would have liked to have seen some of the second half but I was more than happy with what I had seen in the first meaningless game of the year. 

One of the nice things about being on vacation is losing track of what day it is, so I'll look forward to the next game one of these days 'soon'.

GO PATS

Camp Commencement Kicks Off Ku-Ku-Ka-Chu I can't stop alliterating!

How I've been following the Pats' training camp updates:

Projo Pats Blog

Twitter

That's pretty much it! 

As far as training camp goes, after two days, so far so good, aside from all the dang rain (how's that for insight?) 

One thing I don't understand is the persistence of these Michael Vick to The Pats stories.. Oh well the papers and radio stations gotta sell advertising somehow I guess..

A week and a half till the first pre-season game.. does that feel crazy to you? It feels like this year's Camp is shorter than in year's past, but that could just be in my head and I'm too lazy to go back and check up on it. 

Pullin' out all the stops here at mr. blackandwhite dot com!! ha.

GO PATS

It's the most awesomest time of the year

The Day has arrived. The first day of Patriots Training Camp is here!! Awesome.

Like every other Patriots fan in the world, I am looking forward to the upcoming season and with the return of Tom Brady to the field, anticipation is extra high.

It will be interesting to follow the daily news from coming out of training camp, watching the position battles and hoping for a nice healthy and hungry squad of Patriots Football Players, ready to lay a beat-down on the rest of the NFL, come September.

As I have written many times in the past (wow, this site has survived for 5 years as of this August, and yes it will survive, but more on that some other time) the onset of Training Camp is kind of a bitter-sweet time for me, because I love Summer so much and Training Camp heralds the onset of the yucky season, known as Winter. But as always I will put that thought out of my mind and bask in this last month of Summer as much as I possibly can while enjoying the knowledge that The Pats are in full preparation for a brand new fresh season of Football to get me through the Winter.

Can you believe the first pre-season game is just a couple of weeks away??

GO PATS

I guess I should post something on here...

Well I signed up for another year at TypePad. I considered switching to Word Press but that would have required a lot of work, moving posts, getting the ads set up.. yadda yadda. In short, I don't have the time or motivation for any of that so you've got some guaranteed semi-intermittent updates here till at least May 2010. Maybe I'll work on that stuff at some point between now and then. If it's not obvious by now, I'm not really into blawgging that much anymore, but I just keep plugging along.

In the meantime, the good news: Tom Brady is prepping for 2009 - 10. Last week he was on the field in Foxboro and throwing footballs in a real practice, and really, who cares about anything else. 

Tom is back and The Patriots are going to win it all this year!!

GO PATS!!!

There's too much going on

Most weeks I kind of wonder what the heck to write about. This week, I'm in the same boat but it's because there's too MUCH going on for me to write about. 

The B's and C's in the playoffs.. The B's sweeping the extremely hated habs? How sweep was that? 1000% phenomenal. The C's.. I listened / watched today's game and I was relaxed up until that point. The C's played hard but lost a tough game in Chicago and now the series is tied 2-2. 

The Sox have had a couple wild gams vs the MFY this weekend. Two games, two comebacks. Let's see what tonight will bring.. 

The Pats are drafting for the 2009 season and are all over the board, trading out of the 1st round entirely and focusing on players in the lower rounds. If the value for the player you want is not there in the 1st round, why pay the big 1st round bucks? Bill Belichick is the man.

And there was Talledangerous this weekend too.. (That's NASCAR my friends.) Second place finish for Dale Jr. Nice.

You'd think with all this going on I'd be sitting around watching the action on the TV all weekend..

Wrong.

The weather we've been waiting so long for has finally arrived. It was awesome this weekend, in the 80's and I was not about to sit in front of the evil flickering box with the sun shining outside. I watched a little bit of the Sox / MFY on Fri night and I listened to the C's on the radio while I was cooking on the grill today, until the end of the game, anyway. When it started going into multi-overtimes I had to go to the evil box and watch.. I checked the Pats draft status on the computor every couple hours. 

I got a ton of stuff done and the yard is in good shape for the late Spring / Summer. Hopefully that will mean there won't be too much busting my ass during the best time of the year this year.

See ya!

I don't know what to write about

Well, here I am. It's Sunday night, the designated 'blawggin' night, my Wife's watching her Home Makeover show, but I don't have anything to write about. So this will be a scintillating post as I'm sure you can guess, right off the bat.

I guess I'll just run through a few things..

- Please bug the crap out of your congressperson/man/woman and tell him, her or it to support H.R. 1207, a bill introduced by Congressman Ron Paul to audit the Federal Reserve. All it takes is a second to e-mail these people, when they don't turn off the e-mail server because too many people are e-mailing that is.. but, anyway, I hope you will take action, bug your congressman and help spread the word!!

- The Pats.. It's the lull before the draft. Not much to say, really. In Bill We Trust.

- The B's.. The B's seem to be losing a lot of games lately, but they are pretty much a lock for the playoffs, so I am wondering if maybe they are just cruising on in. Hopefully they get that chip back on their shoulder for the playoffs. I'd like to see them make it past the first round this year.

- Spring is almost here. The snow is almost gone from my yard. I can't wait till it is all melted. This has been, unquestionably, the worst Winter I have ever had to endure. It's been frikkin' 10 degrees since November, then the ice-storm in December, that sucked.. It didn't crack 20 degrees for four months and we've had like six feet of snow. So, I'm pretty much ready for Spring. Really ready.

- The Sox.. I don't really get into Spring Training that much, I just kinda watch from afar, but I do like to hear the sound of Jerry Remy calling a game, even if it is a game that doesn't count. It reminds me of the fact that warm days are ahead. I watched some of the Sox / MFY game the other night. What was with those MFY uni's with the shinny shinny 'New York' and the weird letters.. [insert derogatory remark here]

Aright, they are movin the bus out of the way on my Wife's show. And I am outta here for this post. See ya!

Fred Taylor

When The Pats signed Fred Taylor, I was pretty psyched. Taylor's been around the league for a while now, but I think he's still a very good running back. He'll be a great weapon in The Pats' backfield. 

When I first heard the news, I couldn't help but be reminded of former Patriot, Robert Edwards. Edwards and Taylor both came into the league the same year and they both had pretty impressive rookie seasons. Edwards came in to replace Curtis Martin in New England and after his rookie year, we were all saying, 'Curtis who??'

Then came that stupid flag football game on the beach in Hawaii.

Now here we are, over 10 years later, and Fred Taylor is a Patriot. Weird. But pretty ok.

In Bill We Trust

Cassel, Vrabes, we'll miss ya.

Hey everybody. Long time since the last update. I've kind of neglected the site of late but I think I've got a schedule worked out here and I'm going to try to update the site no less than once a week. The plan is to check in every Sunday (while my Wife is watching Extreeme Home Makeover). So there you go. Sunday Sunday Sunday!!

Ok enough of that.

So it just so happens that the day before I plan to start writing in here again, Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel both get traded to K.C. for a second round draft pick. 

When I first read the news I was like, 'Wait a minute.. a second round pick?? THAT'S IT??' I think most Pats fans would agree, that seems pretty light for a lot o' quality playa, fo sho. Unfortunately, I think it's pretty much understood the Pats had to take what they could get. K.C. was in a position to say take or leave it, so The Pats made the best of the situation. I would expect nothing less.

I think a 2nd rounder for Cassel is fair, but throwing Vrabes into the deal stings a bit. Well, that's how it goes. I'll always remember Vrabel's penchant for catching touchdowns and the terror he wreaked on opposing offenses. A full quality player and person, from everything this Pats Fan could tell anyway.. And I'm glad to see Matt Cassel get the starting job he earned so well last season. It was great to see him emerge as a top NFL quarterback while wearing a Patriots uniform, proving the doubters wrong, once again. He was truly awesome last season filling some pretty giga-normous shoes while Tom Brady recovered from his knee injury. Too bad Cassel's going to an AFC team. I would have preferred to see him in the NFC where he can't bother The Patriots, but I hope he does great out in K.C, the only team in the AFC West worth a damn, as long as he's not playing against The Pats that is.

So what else has been going on around here the last month or so? Not a whole heck of a lot. Been watchin' the B's, a little bit of the C's and about 5 min of The Daytona 500 a few weeks back. Good to see one of my favorite drivers, Matt Kenseth, in Victory Lane at Daytona. The Bruins play this season can best be described as 'wicked awesome'. I sure hope it continues come playoff time. Other than that, just hangin with the fam, playin gee-tar and waiting for the fucking snow to melt. But more white crap is on the way as I write this. I hate it. How many days left till Spring??

ROCK

It's Super-Sunday. Go Arizona!

Well the day is finally here! The Superbowl! The first holiday of the year. Yes, it is a holiday (for the ump-teenth time).

To be honest though, I'm really not all that super excited about the Superbowl this year. Of course, as a football fan, I'm still looking forward to watching the game.. Just because The Pats were eliminated over a month ago, that does not mean I stopped following the NFL playoffs, but, for some reason I'm just not feeling that big Superbowl excitement that I usually get on Super Sunday.. oh well. 

It should come as no surprise to any of the six people that read this site to learn that I'll be rooting for The Arizona Cardinals in the Big Game today. I'd love to see The Cards win their first Superbowl and prevent the Steelers from winning what would be a record sixth title at the same time. So GO CARDINALS!

I'm planning to make some Victory Chili today on behalf of The Cardinals. Hopefully those finicky Football Gods will notice and do the right thing this year.. 

Enjoy the game today everybody. The Patriots kick-off in 224 days.

(In Bill We Trust)

Time for the, 'Who I'm picking in the NFL Conference Championships'

Well things didn't work out exactly as planned last weekend, with the non-Patriots team that I was pulling for to go all the way, The Titans, eliminated, but in the end it all worked out ok. With the Eagles eliminating The NY Giants, (THANK YOU) and The Cardinals advancing to the NFC Championship, I am now guaranteed to have at least one team that I like playing in the Superbowl.

In the AFC, what can I say, I was disappointed to see The Titans eliminated last week, but I don't totally hate Baltimore, so it's ok. 

The other AFC Divisional Game last week featured two teams that I truly dislike, The Steelers and Chargers, but even that one worked out in the end. Not only do I not have to worry about mega-tool LaDainian Tomlinson getting to The Superbowl, but with the 8 - 8 San Diego Chargers loosing to Pittsburgh, The Patriots, who own The Chargers 2nd round pick, improve their draft position. Nice.

Alright, as for this week..

AFC:

Pittsburgh / Baltimore - I totally hate Pittsburgh, so Go Ravens.

NFC:

Arizona / Philly - It's a no loose situation for me. I like both teams, so I'll be happy with whoever gets in. I'm really not sure who to pull for more here. I would not mind seeing those tortured Philly fans getting another shot at The Superbowl, but I think it would be really cool to see the Cardinals get to their first Superbowl too. I like to see teams that have been the perennial losers of the league finally make it to the top. Either way, I'll be rooting for one of these teams in the Superbowl.

On the Patriots front, I am upset to see so many departures from the coaching staff and the front office. The loss of Scott Pioli to KC really hurts, but what can you do. That is what success breeds so I can't complain too much. Thankfully we still have the two best guys at the top running the show for The Pats, Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick, so in the end I know it will be ok.

In Bill We Trust

Time for, 'who I'm rooting for in the NFL Divisional Playoffs'.. (go Titans)

Alright everybody, it's time for the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs. Wooo! Exciting. 

Ok, it is exciting actually, even though The Pats are not in it. Unlike say, baseball or basketball, football is a sport that I still like to watch even if my team is not involved. I like to watch hockey too, even if The B's are not in the mix (which is, unfortunately, a frequent occurrence, but maybe not this year!!)

Ok, back to fooball.. As far as the playoffs this weekend..

AFC:

Baltimore / Tennessee 

- Tennessee. And let me just say that I am rooting for Tennessee to go all the way, baby. All the muther-fucking way. Keep that in mind when I get to...

San Diego / Pittsburgh 

- Well, here we have a case of, I fucking hate both of these teams, quite a lot. So who to pick, who to pick?? Logic engage: Which team is more likely to get smoked if they play Tennessee? I'll go with San Diego there.

Alright, NFC:

Philly / New York - Philly. Easy choice. It should not be too hard for people to figure out that I don't want the Giants to advance.. Yes I am still bitter. Very bitter. Don't bring it up. 

Arizona / Carolina - I have to tell you, I really don't care who wins. I would not mind seeing Arizona win, just because I like to see the teams that have been down for a long time become successful.. but, should The Giants win their game, which of these teams could beat them? I have to say, that would be Carolina. So I will root for Carolina, but I won't be upset if Arizona wins..

Ok happy Divisional Playoff Weekend everybody and enjoy the games. 

(In Bill We Trust)

Matt Millen is providing NFL analysis for a playoff game. Is this a joke?

I was just watching the Arizona / Atlanta playoff pre-game show on NBC and was truly flabbergasted to see Matt Millen, architect of the 0-16 Detroit Lions providing football related analysis. 

Matt Millen. Are you kidding me?? 

NBC, do you honestly expect any football fan out there to listen or give credence to anything Matt Millen has to say about a football team and what they need to do to win a game, any game, never mind a playoff game? 

If you're looking for somebody to describe the best way to completely destroy a franchise, Millen is your man, but this guy is in the studio talking about what two playoff teams need to do to win, after his own team just went 0-16.

What a joke. NBC, good luck with the whole credibility thing. 

Ok that's it. I just could not believe what I was seeing and had to say something about it. As you were.

Go Atlanta.

Patriots-less Wildcaaahd Weekend.. Wahhh

First off, Happy 2009 everybody!! I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!! I'm enjoying my last two days off before heading back to the normal on Monday.. 

Second, I am totally bummed that The Pats are not competing for a Championship this season, and I am worried about who might be coming and going from the Front Office and the Coaching Staff this off-season. I would hate to see Personnel Whiz, Scott Pioli, go to another team. The same goes for our offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels. 

But, what are you gonna do, right? 

People move on and change in the NFL is constant. Thankfully we still have the best owner in the game, Robert Kraft, at the top, and the best coach in the game, Bill Belichick, running the entire show.. Here's to a 2009 Patriots Championship season!

As for this year's NFL playoffs, here's my 'who I'm rooting for in the NFL Wildcard Weekend':

NFC

Atlanta / Arizona - Go Atlanta

Philly / Minnie - Go Vikes

AFC

Miami / Baltimore - Go Ravens

Indy / San Diego - Ug.. I will hold my nose and say, go San Diego.

In Belichick We Trust

It was the year, without Patriots playoffs, the kids all feel so sad..

Well this sucks. No playoffs for the Patriots this year. Even though they truly deserved a spot, tie-breakers did them in, that and having to rely on Brett Farve to win a game. I was trying to be positive about Far-vre but I knew right from the get-go that he would let us all down, again. Just like in 2002.. just like it. 

I could go on a mini-tirade about that guy but why bother? It's not worth the effort.. I expect the Jets will disintegrate in the off-season as they watch Chad Pennington's Fish prepare for the playoffs while wearing their spiffy new AFC East Champions ball-caps. 

Pennington gets the last laugh on The Jets and their fans in the end. Remember when was playing in New Jersey for the Jets and his own team's 'fans' cheered his injury as he was lying on his home field turf writhing in pain? Karma's a real bitch. I can't deny there is some twisted pleasure derived from knowing The Jets are about to officially become a complete mess.

As far as my own team, who would have thought an 11 - 5 team would miss the playoffs? Not that long ago, 11 - 5 was the Patriots high-water mark for games won for cryin' out loud. 

Well, what can you do? Nothing. Just bitch about it on your lame web-page, I guess, and look forward to next season. 

Despite the disappointment of missing the playoffs, this year's Patriots team has a lot to be proud of. People everywhere had left this team for dead before the end of the first quarter of the first game of the year, but The Patriots never quit and went on to post a very successful season and an impressive 11 - 5 record. That is nothing to be ashamed of.. Just ask the fans in Detroit, if there are any left. Man, do I feel for those guys. I'm sitting here in a funk about my team barely missing the playoffs. How about watching your team going 0 - 16?? Sheesh. 

Matt Cassel. What can I say about him? Matt Cassel = The Muthafuckin Balls. Absolutely THE BALLS this past season. Nobody thought he was going to be able to fill Tom Brady's shoes, but he did great, better than great. Cassel had a few shaky games, no doubt, but he came into his own and led this team to a playoff worthy record. 

Remember in September when everybody was freaking out and screaming for The Pats to go get Chris Simms, Dante Culpepper or some other free-agent QB? Bill Belichick made it clear that The Pats were sticking with Matt Cassel. Once again, Bill Belichick was right and everybody else was wrong. Someday we'll learn to just shut up and listen to him. 

I hope in the coming off-season, things will work out great for Matt. I am sure that he is going to be a highly sought after quarterback. His future will undoubtedly be in some way tied to the ongoing recovery of Tom Brady's knee, but hopefully it all works out for everybody involved. Hopefully Brady fully recovers, Cassel gets a nice pay-day and becomes a starter for a, preferably NFC, team, and The Pats get some nice draft picks as compensation for Matt's services. That would be nice.

Patriots players also earning THE BALLS moniker this past season: Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk and rookie Jerod Mayo. 

To the off-season we go. Time to start making the 2009 New England Patriots. In the meantime, The Bruins and Celtics are kicking all kinds of ass. That's a nice fall-back to have.

Oh, as far as the NFL Playoffs go, GO TITANS.

In Belichick We Trust

GO PATS

Now we wait..

Congratulations to the New England Patriots! Going 11-5 after all the injuries they endured this year is a great achievement. I remember when Brady went down, people were saying they would go 1-15 or 2-14. Ridiculous.. My personal prediction was 10 - 6 so they made me look bad, but I don't mind! 

Now we have to sit here and churn on some stress as we swallow hard and root for the Jets.. and Jacksonville. At the moment Jest / Fish are tied in the 2nd, while Jax has a 7 - 3 lead.. It's going to be a stressful afternoon. I already think I need a Tums... So here we go.. GO JETS and GO JAGS!!

AND GO PATS!! See you in January 09 I hope!!

A prayer to the Football Gods.. the '08 Patriots deserve a few more games.

Dear Football Gods,

I was all ready to write a straight-forward post about how The Patriots need a win in Buffalo today against a spoiler minded Bills team followed by an improbable win by the completely unreliable Brett Far-vre and the NJ Jets, but why waste time with the obvious? (I'm not even considering the possible Baltimore loss to Jacksonville option, we all know that ain't happening..)

Instead I'm just going to ask you to give Matt Cassel and The 2008 Patriots a few more games in January 2009. I humbly submit to your cold, yet chick-magnet-ey hearts, I think they have earned it.

Between forever emblazoning us with the mark of an 18-1 non-championship team, directly followed by taking away the best QB in the game for an entire season, you've smote us in Patriots Nation pretty good over the last year or so. 

Ok, we got the message, you smacked us off the mountain pretty hard, but we are still here and as we await the kickoff of the last regular season game of '08, The Patriots are still here. They never gave in when it would have been easy to do so. They have clawed their way back up that mountain and are looking to keep going further. 

So how about a few more Patriots games in January 2009, All-Powerful Football Gods? I think you know as well as I do, they've earned it.

GO PATS

Hey, in case you didn't know, it's a three week season in the AFC East.

Here's a little peek at the schedule for this '3 Week Season' the Pats are mixed up in. As has been discussed elsewhere, the Pats not only need to win out December, but they need some help from other teams if they want to make the Playoffs this year.

It's impossible to guess which team is going to show up when the Jets and Fish play teams like Buffalo, Seattle and San Fran.. Any of those teams could be a problem, or they could just roll over. The Jets and Fish could be up against a feisty team like The Pats just faced in Seattle or they could be up against an 'ok we give up' team. It's crazy. Let's hope for feisty.

The Jets and Fish have to play each other so one of those teams is guaranteed a loss.. There can be only one.

AFC EAST

Jets:
15      Sun, Dec 14      Buffalo (6-7)
16     Sun, Dec 21     @ Seattle (2-11)
17     Sun, Dec 28     Miami (8-5)

Miami:
15      Sun, Dec 14      San Francisco (5-8)
16     Sun, Dec 21     @ Kansas City (2-11)
17     Sun, Dec 28     @ New York (8-5)

N.E.:
15      Sun, Dec 14      @ Oakland (3-10)
16     Sun, Dec 21     Arizona (8-5)
17     Sun, Dec 28     @ Buffalo (6-7)

In the Wildcard, The Colts schedule is so easy, it's almost laughable. The only exception is Tennessee, but at that point in the season they will likely have the 1st round bye and home field clinched and are probably playing for nothing anyway.

The Ravens on the other hand have a pretty tough schedule. Pittsburgh will be tough, and Dallas has the potential to be tough. Jacksonville? Ah, let's hope for tough but I'm not counting on it.

Wild Card:

Colts:
15      Sun, Dec 14       Detroit
16     Thu, Dec 18     @ Jacksonville
17     Sun, Dec 28     Tennessee

Ravens:
15      Sun, Dec 14      Pittsburgh
16     Sat, Dec 20     @ Dallas
17     Sun, Dec 28     Jacksonville

Of course it all means nothing if the Pats drop one more game.. but you know that.

GO PATS

Turnovers are killing the Patriots' chances at making the playoffs..

I'm sitting here watching The Pats / Steelers game and what is easily the most infuriating Patriots performance I've seen in a long time. This is much more annoying than getting blown out. This is just playing stupid. FOUR turnovers in this game. FOUR. Ok the ball is wet and one turnover was an INT off a tipped ball, but still.. four turnovers.. that is recockulous. How can you expect to win against anybody, never mind Pittsburgh, if you continually give the ball away?? Duh, you can't. I lost track but I am pretty sure all of the Steelers 2nd half points have come off of turnovers..

Eight min left in the game and The Steelers are currently up by 13 and are driving for more.. Should the Pats lose this one, which is pretty f-ing likely, that will put them in a spot where they will have to win out December to have even a shot at the Playoffs. Too bad.

An equally annoyed Gil Santos, on the Patriots Rock Radio Network, just said the exact same thing. On the same wavelength again.. Dammit.

The Steelers just kicked a field goal to go up by 16. Cue up the Jim Mora quotes. Phht.

GO PATS

Update:
Make that FIVE Patriots turnovers and a 33-10 final score. This was a game that was tied 10-10 at half-time.. Yeesh. At least NJ lost too..

Though I stand at the door and knock..

Big opportunity knocking on the door of the Patriots this weekend. I think it is fairly safe to say that this upcoming game against Miami is huge as far as playoff implications go.

With the Bills losing to Cleveland this past Monday and the Jets playing the undefeated Titans on Sunday, a win against Miami would accomplish several goals:

It would allow the Pats to keep their playoff hopes alive (duh.) 11-5 is probably good enough to get into the playoffs this year, anything less than that is going to be dicey. If the Pats were to lose to Miami they'd be 6-5, meaning it would be a really hard road to make the playoffs from there..

A win on Sunday would give them sole possession of second place in the AFC East and could potentially tie them for first with the Jets, should the Jets lose to Tennessee, which, hopefully they will.

Finally, and, this is pretty high up there for me, a Patriots win on the road in Miami, aside from being awesome all by itself, would really annoy the hell out of Joey Porter, which would be extra extra awesome. Because really, fuck Joey Porter. Fuck. Him.

Be awesome this weekend Patriots.

GO PATS

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Ethan continued his relentless search for young Debbie.. what?

(Kudos to anyone who gets that movie reference.)

So, here we are. The Pats lost last night. BUT did anyone notice that the Bruins totally kicked Montreal's collective ass last night to the tune of 6 to 1?? THAT IS AWESOME. I HATE THE HABS. GO BRUINS!!!

I almost hate to say this for fear of the jinx but... /chickens out.

One of the first things I did this morning after turning on the computor was to check out The Patriots' chances of making the playoffs. How you may ask? Not by reading any damn 'expert' sports columnists, I can tell you that. I am sure they are doing their very best to get everyone stirred up and are shouting from the rooftops at the Globe and Herald that The Patriots season is now over.. Wait, I thought that already happened? Isn't that what the 'experts' were saying back in Week 1? Yeah, whatever.

No my friends, there is a better, more excellent way. If you scroll over to my links over there, you will notice there's a really cool site listed called Sports Club Stats. Dudes and ladies this site kicks ass.

Unfortunately however, the numbers don't lie. The Pats playoff chances are trending slightly downward, FOR THE MOMENT..

GO PATS

Dammit.

Well I just finished watching the Pats / Jets game so obviously the main thing going through my mind is, 'FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK'. 

But, other than that... you know, it was an exciting game, I got a lot of exercise jumping around my living room and yelling throughout the game, but it was also a very frustrating game. It was excruciatingly frustrating that after tying the game with 1 second left, The Pats D could not stop The Jests from scoring on their first possession during the overtime period, but really what will stick in my craw for the next week and a half will be the 3rd Quarter, where the Pats came out en-fuego but got nothing nada zip zero to show for it. 

After scoring a TD to end the 1st half, the Pats offense came out in the 3rd Q and was clicking, at the same time, the defense was stifling NJ... but the damn turnovers and dropped passes killed us! Ben Watson's turnover and the bad / mixed up snap to Matt Cassel are what stand out to me. The Pats were in scoring territory, at the worst, looking at field goals, all for nothing. 

Ah, well, fuck. So The Jets get the win. I hate it of course, and I so hate Brett Far-ver-ay and his ridiculous celebrating nonsense, but, there's still games left to play. Like I said before, November will make or break the Patriots playoff hopes. So far they're 1-1. If there are any positives to make a Pats Fan feel a little better, its that Cassel is really looking better and better, with every game. Other than that botched snap, I thought he really had a superb game against the Jets and can only imagine if Ben Watson could have hung on to a few more of those balls that were coming his way.. Another positive to look at is, although the short week was tough for the team, they now have a nice extra long break to get ready for Miami, which is now a critical, critical game. But you don't need me to tell you that. 

Ok, one last swig of beer and one last, FUCK!!

On to Miami.

GO PATS

Off the fingertips..

Pats / Colts. I'll remember this game as one of those would have, could have, should have games, a winnable game for The Patriots that bounced away like the sure-fire TD pass from Cassel that bounced off of Jabbar Gaffney's fingers in the 2nd half last night.

You can point to the Pats out-smarting themselves by calling a time out just before they ran for a first down on 4th and 1 inside the Colts 5, or the dumb-ass unnecessary roughness penalty by TE David Thomas that basically killed The Pats chances to at least tie the score at the end of the game, but it was the Gaffney non-catch that was the play that will stand out to me as to why The Patriots lost last night.

I'm not ragging on or pissed at Gaffney, maybe I should be, but I'm not. The cliche is that NFL games always come down to one or two plays and that's the one that cost the Patriots the most in the end.

I thought Cassel really played well last night. To me he made some really big strides in last nights game. He looked good. He was getting the ball out quickly and made some nice plays running the ball when he didn't have somewhere to throw. I'm sure it helped that The Pats' entire offensive line was finally completely intact last night as well.

I thought the defense did great against the run. Rookie linebacker Jerod Mayo is awesome. I am so impressed with him. He is making plays all over the place for the Patriots defense. I hope this is just the beginning of what we will see from this guy. The secondary did a pretty good job holding Manning in check but got burned a few times on some long passes to Clark and Gonzalez.

The bottom line is it went back and forth and The Pats were right there with the Colts the entire game. It's not killing me but it is disappointing because I really did feel the Pats deserved to win this one.

So here we are. We're now half-way through the season. The Patriots have survived a pretty big blow to their team due to injuries and find themselves at 5-3 and tied with the Jets and Bills for 1st place in the AFC East. The Fish are only one game behind at 4-4. It's almost like they just started the beginning of the season. Everybody's even.

If you look around the league it's pretty much the same for everybody, except for The Titans, who I am now officially rooting for as a backup team.

For The Patriots it's now an 8 game race to the playoffs. With three divisional games in a row, November will be the month that either makes or breaks the '08 Patriots. With so many teams having similar records this season, the wild-card race is going to be brutal. Winning the Division is going to be kind of a big deal. Maybe an 8 game race is not an appropriate way to describe the second half of the season. It's going to be an 8 game slug-fest.

GO PATS

It's f-ing cold out dude

Hey what's up everybody? Apologies to the five or six people that still read this site. I was doing pretty good on the updates for a while there but things got insanely busy in September, and in October, when I thought things might calm down, things got even busier!

It was kid activity insanity pretty much 5 nights a week for a little while there and when I wasn't doing kid related activities I was taking care of all the other stuff that wasn't getting done because I was busy with the kid related activities! Crazy. But that seems to be over with now, thank goodness.

I have to be honest, although this is assuredly one of the known 'kiss of death' things to say on your site, posting on here is not really that high on the priority list right now.. I'm shooting for once or twice a week right now, if possible.

I really try not to post anything from work, unless I am insanely bored with nothing to do, and, since I sit in front of a fucking computer all day at work, when I get home I usually don't feel like doing more of the typity-type thing. When I have free time at home I'd rather apply my finger work-outs to the fret-board, not the key-board. So there you go. There's my lame, 'I don't have time or feel like updating the site' site update for ya.. har.

Just because I have not been writing about the Patriots, that does not mean I have not been watching them. The last two weeks were pretty sweet with victories over The Broncos, a team that regularly makes life miserable for those of us in Patriots Nation, and enjoys doing it I might add, and the Rams, a team that always brings back fond memories of Superbowl 36 whenever we play them.

This week's game vs. The Colts in the Oil Dome or whatever it's called, should be interesting. Will the roof on the dome be open or closed? I predict it will be closed because it's getting cold out (I had to wear my winter coat for the first time today, blah.) and being cold is not something The Colts like to be.

The Pats will face a Colts team that is in unfamiliar territory with a sub-500 record and trying to avoid a potential three game losing streak. The Colts may not be tearing up the league this season but they are still a dangerous team that is desperately looking to keep it's playoff hopes alive this week, especially considering that next week won't be any easier for them as they'll face The Steelers.

At 5-2, you really can't complain that much about where the Patriots are right now. They are right in the thick of things and are actually in 3rd place in the conference as we approach the half-way mark in the season. Not too shabby if you ask me.

Although I miss Tom Brady terribly, (Hope you're feeling better Tom! Love ya, mean it, no homo.) I think Cassel has done a good job considering the situation he came into. My only real complaint about him is that he continues to hang on to the ball too long, but that seems to be getting better week by week as he continues to gain experience. Matt! Matt! He's our man! If he can't do it... um, Bill Belichick will find someone who can, goddamn right he will!

In Bill We Trust.
GO PATS

/lamest post evar?

See ya!

(Don't forget my drop. It's cool.)

Pats / Chargers - One word: Ugly

Wow. I thought the Miami game a few weeks ago was bad, but THAT was just plain ugly last night. 

After The Patriots failed to score a TD from one yard out on four successive tries early in the 3rd quarter, all four wheels came off the cart at the same time. Instead of narrowing the score to a seven point lead that would have kept the game interesting, the Pats got nothing and the Chargers took the game and ran away with it after that, literally. 

On the following drive, the Chargers took over at their two yard line and careened down the field in 4 plays to go up 24 - 3. For all intents and purposes, it was game ovar for The Pats at that point. The Patriots couldn't seem to get anything going on offense as San Diego's defense just pinned their ears back and brought the house on inexperienced Pats QB, Matt Cassel. 

After The Chargers went up 24 - 3, I commented to my Wife, 'This game is going from worse to worse-er.' 

A few moments later, play-by-play man extraordinaire Gil Santos commented to should be Hall of Famer Gino Cappelletti, 'This game is going from bad to worse.'

'You two are on the same wavelength,' my Wife noted. 

'Unfortunately,' I replied dejectedly.

It really felt like all the life came out of the Patriots after failing to score from the one. They looked and played like a demoralized team from that point on. Late in the game it appeared that some individual players such as Ellis Hobbs and Richard Seymour had dusted themselves off and were playing for some personal pride, and safety Rodney Harrison never seemed to give up, but it was too little too late by then. 

I am not going to pick on Matt Cassel, but I will say that if there is one thing that he is clearly lacking it is the ability to get rid of the ball quickly and that is what was killing him last night, at least from this armchair coach's perspective. 

It is bothersome how little Randy Moss seems to be involved in the offense as well. I know that Moss is continually double covered, but you would think that Cassel would be able to find him for more than a paltry three receptions. 

If there was one bright spot last night, I thought it was the ground game. Sammy Morris and Kevin Faulk really did a great job moving the ball last night. Of course, the Chargers were more than content to let The Pats kill the clock while they moved the ball on the ground.

Despite getting shellacked last night, I'm really not that upset about the loss. With newbie Cassel running the offense and a secondary featuring Ellis Hobbs as the #1 cornerback, this year's team is going to go through some growing pains. I do want to point out some of the good things too and in that vein, rookie linebacker Jerod Mayo continues to be very impressive. He seems like he could really be a special player. 

So The Pats fall to 3-2. Hopefully the team can learn from this game and pull things together. 

Parity has definitely returned to the entire league this year and in the AFC East, the division remains very much up for grabs, which only highlights how important these upcoming divisional contests are going to be, for all the teams involved. From the 4-1 Bills to the 2-3 Fish, the AFC East is still anybody's division to take. The Pats need to stay in the hunt. Let's hope they keep one of their last remaining streaks going next week against Denver..

GO PATS

Still all over the place...

Well a week has past and it seems that I am still all over the place. In fact, I actually started writing this post two days ago and still have not finished it! 

This month has proven to be pretty much the same as last month as far as the busy-factor goes and this week has been one of the busiest. There's something going on every night and I leave work early, rush home, rush into the house, say 'Hi' to my Wife, change out of my work clothes, say 'Bye' to my Wife and then run right back out the door with a kid in tow for some kind of child-related activity. Sometimes if I've got an extra minute in there I have time to make a half a PB&J sammitch. Sometimes I skip dinner all together.. It's not bad, I enjoy doing stuff with the kids, it's just, busy!

The Pats win over San Fran last Sunday was very satisfying. I had written earlier that I thought that the San Fran game would show us a lot about what this year's Patriots team was going to be like and if this is what we can expect, then I think we will be in good shape. It wasn't perfect, but The Pats got the job done. Do I expect there to be rough patches and some bumps along the road? Of course. But I think the Pats showed a lot on Sunday, coming from behind, playing solid defense against a good offensive 49ers team, and moving the ball on the ground and through the air. 

It seems like the Pats made a great decision in staying on the West Coast rather than traveling back East between the San Francisco game and the San Diego game. Let's hope it pays off come Sunday night vs. The Chargers.

Switching gears to the Sox, I didn't really write too much about the ALDS and too be honest, I didn't see a lot of it. Those West Coast games were a killer and then there was the marathon Game 3... The only game I saw in it's entirety was Game 4. Yup, I'm a wuss. 

Whatever. It was great to see The Sox finish it in 4 and avoid the trip back out West for a Game 5. 

The Rays are going to be tough in the ALCS. Mission: 8W

Last but not least, the Bruins open up their '08 season tonight out in Colorado. Although I will be watching the game, I don't know how much of it I'll really get to see since it starts at 10 PM. 

Hmm, is there a theme developing here? 

I'll get to see the puck drop on the season at least. 

I know I don't write about the Bruins all that often, but I am glad that hockey is back and I am very optimistic about this upcoming season for the Black and Gold.

See ya!

All over the place..

It's October? I am completely blown away at how fast the month of September went by. It was probably the busiest month we've ever had since the kids were born. There were weeks when we had something going on every single night; soccer, cub-scouts, brownies... stuff I don't even remember. Things will start to calm down in October. There will be a brief lull for a few weeks near the end of the month for us to catch our breath before things gear up again for the crazy holiday time of year. My Wife is already buying X-Mas presents!

I don't know if anybody cared about the posts I had written about the economic bailout recently. I'm just going to say that this issue is being voted on in the U.S. Senate today and I would urge you to contact your Senators and let them know your thoughts about it. I would also urge you to contact your U.S. Representative as well and tell him or her what you think about the bailout plan, as well as anything else you have on your mind! THEY WORK FOR US.

Mission 11W: The '08 version. It's kicking off tonight in Anaheim. I expect this will be a good series. The Angels pretty much owned the Red Sox during the regular season and the Sox will come into the series with some key players dealing with some nagging injuries. In the end, as always, it will come down to pitching and with Jon Lester, a.k.a. Red Sox Ace 1A, taking the mound tonight, I think the Sox are in a good position to come out of the gate strong. A Game 1 win for the Sox would be huge and would mean there would be at least 2 home games at Fenway. Mission: 11W. GO SOX.

The Patriots week off is over and there's thirteen games left to play. The Pats will start October off with two back-to-back West Coast games, starting in San Francisco this weekend. San Fran lost to the Saints last week but have shown that they are a team that can move the ball down the field. I think this upcoming game may show us a lot about the '08 Patriots as we start the 2nd quarter of the season. Lets hope that the week off did the team some good. Time to get down to business. GO PATS

Troy Brown: Football Player

When I watch The Patriots, I always turn down the volume on the T.V. and listen to the radio broadcast with Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti as I watch the game.

When play-by-play man extraordinaire Gil Santos would call Troy Brown's name during a game, he would regularly refer to him as 'Troy Brown: Football Player'. I have always felt that was such a great compliment to Troy and of course it is well deserved. Offense, defense, special teams, even backup quarterback, Troy did it all.

When the outcome of a game was on the line and the Patriots were in need of a big play to stay alive, on countless occasions, Troy Brown came through with that play. Like Bill Belichick said, "Nobody thought he could make the big plays. But all he did was make plays."

I have to say I have been wondering about Troy's status over the last few weeks and was kind of hoping we might see him take the field at some point this season. With his retirement now official, it's a saddening thing to know that we'll no longer get to watch one of the true greats play the game the way it was meant to be played.

Players of Troy's exceptional caliber don't come around that often. I'm glad that I was able to watch him play his entire career wearing a New England Patriots uniform. I can't even count how many times I've jumped out of my chair in jubilation after Troy made a catch, prevented a pass or ran back a punt that helped to seal another win for The Patriots.

Troy Brown: Football Player.

Squishie Fishies

Well from a Pats Fan perspective, that pretty much sucked yesterday, didn't it? What was I saying in the previous post about Ronnie Brown? That the Pats have had some difficulty handling him in the past? Sheesh.

The Fish did all the squishing yesterday, to the tune of after-30-points-I-stopped-paying-attention to 13. Ouch. I watched the first half of the game but when it became clear that Matt Cassel had reverted to his pre-season form and that The Pats D wasn't going to be stopping anybody wearing the color teal, I grabbed the radio and headed outside to do some yard work on the last official day of Summer '08 (sigh).

To be honest, I didn't have a good feeling about this game right from the start. The Patriots were due for a clunker and with Brady lost for the season, we all knew this kind of game had to happen eventually. Have you ever noticed that more often than not, these types of games seem to come against The Dolphins? I guess the positive thing to say is, The Pats have gotten their annual 'bad game' out of the way, now they need take what they can use from it and move on.

When the schedule first came out, I was not very pleased about the bye week coming so early in the year, but given the situation, I think the bye week ends up coming at a good time as it will give the team a chance to catch it's breath and regroup before heading into the meat of the schedule. Plus, my family is planning to go apple picking next weekend. The bye week means I won't have to worry about missing the game.

Despite the high suck-factor of yesterday's loss, The Brady-less Pats have handled a pretty huge obstacle to open the season and are still in a good position as far as the early standings go.

The Patriots will go into the bye week at 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the Division. We all know it's going to be a lot tighter race to win the AFC East this season and if you look around the AFC, many of the predicted contenders are struggling as well. The Colts are 1-2, The Chargers are 0-2, the Steelers are now 2-1.. Buffalo, Tennesee and Denver are all sitting pretty at 3-0..

It's early. Teams that came out of the gate fast will soon find other teams starting to creep up on them in the standings.

The Patriots will get a week to recover from yesterday's squishing at the hands (fins?) of the Fish, then we will begin to learn what this year's Patriots team is truly made of once they step back onto the field in October.

GO PATS

Squish Request

Hey so what's up everybody? Happy Reward Friday once again!

This morning I walked into Dunkins to get my usual Reward Friday breakfast and before I could say anything, the person behind the counter smiled at me and said, 'Sausage, egg and cheese on an onion bagel?'

I guess they know me there. Ha.

So this weekend The Pats will try to squish those fish at The Razor in Foxborough. I know everybody is saying how bad the Dolphins are and their record doesn't lie, but I still don't want to overlook them. The Dolphins are a team that is desperate for a win and I am sure they would love to get it on The Patriots home turf and put an end to their regular season win streak at the same time.

This is not the Dolphins team that went 1-15 last year. Miami has made some improvements this off-season, particularly on offense. Pennington is an efficient QB, they've beefed up their O-Line and they have two good running backs in Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. The Pats have usually done a good job containing Williams but I seem to recall Ronnie Brown giving the The Pats' D some trouble. Feel free to thrash me thoroughly in the comments if I am wrong there..

The Pats got lucky this year and don't have to play on the broiling pan that is Dolphin Stadium in Miami in September. Of course the Fish get out of the Foxborough ice box in December as well so the respective weather advantage is basically a wash now.. Seems like it used to be every year, The Pats would have to endure the withering heat and humidity in Miami during the Fall and the Fish would have to come up here and freeze their asses off and let us throw snow at them in the Winter. Did the teams come to some kind of secret nice weather scheduling agreement? Hmmmm. Somebody get Arlen Specter on the phone.

Then again, don't.

Though they have dropped the first two games, I don't think the Fish will go 1-15 again this year, but hopefully The Patriots will make Joey Porter wait at least one more week to get that first win..

Squish the Fish

GO PATS

Quick recap of the last few days from Friday up till now which is Wed.

Hey whats up everybody? Happy hump day.

Quick recap of the last few days:

The Supersuckers show last Friday = Awesome.
Driving home from Boston after the Supersuckers show with toothpicks holding my eyes open sometime prior to dawn on Saturday morning = Not awesome.

Not having to go to work after the Supersuckers show last Friday = Awesome.
Being pretty much total junk all day on Saturday due lack of sleep and seriously wondering if I'm getting too old to go to these rock shows = Not awesome.

The Patriots beating the Jets in Jersey on Sunday after football 'fans' in nyc celebrated Tom Brady's season ending knee injury and crowned themselves the presumptive AFC East Champs the week before = Awesome.

The Red Sox tying The Rayz for first place in the A.L. East on Monday = Awesome.
The Red Sox falling a game back again after The Rayz walk off win last night = Not awesome.

Finding lolinator.com earlier today = Awesome. (I like to end the post on an 'Awesome')

(H/T to the The DSC Drop for the lolinator link. Also, my drop.io is feeling lonely..)

HA!

Friday, Friday, Fri-Day... yay!

What's up you all? Happy Friday. Reward Friday, as we like to say around here.

I've got some good plans for this evening as I'll be heading into Boston (ok, technically Allston, but, close enough) to see The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World, The Supersuckers, at Harpers Ferry. Should be happy times.

The plan is to head into towne after work, grab a bite and some liquid refreshment at T's Pub and then.. well I don't know what I'll do, but it'll involve killing time till the show starts around 8:30 or 9 PM. I actually brought a book to read, but I don't know how much reading I'll be able to do in T's Pub on a Friday night... I'll probably wind up watching the Sox / Jays game.

When showtime comes around I'll walk down to Harpers Ferry and then participate in the rock and roll experience that will be taking place within. I've got my black t-shirt on today, so I'm prepped and good to go..

If you've got some bandwidth to spare and some extra cycles to kill, get some traction on and head over to check out today's edition of The Great Debates over at MVN's NFL Outsiders site. Today's burning question: Is 2008 a lost season for The Patriots?

The story features some different opinions on this topic from around Patriots Nation and in an amazing display of gutsy courage by the folks at MVN, I was asked to lend my opinion to the post as well. Amazing!

Have a good weekend. Rock. Stay out of trouble. GO PATS