December 31, 2008

Pats game weird-lights

Okay, besides the whole dealio of the Pats not making the playoffs or the Cassel/Brady thingy (Brady mend delayed? Cassel franchised? By the way, I say franchise and trade for value - but that's a longer issue), how 'bout the weather conditions in that game? I mean, whaddafu?...

A lot of crazy stuff -- like the almost emtire lack of passing in the first half, especially against the wind, a 13 yard Bills punt, the Pats extra point almnost being blown directly back out of the uprights after passing through it (after the ball passed thru the middle of the uprights, 15 yards above the crossbar, the wind caught it and blew it back, landing inches past the crossbar -- the announcers first called it no-good, only to be corrected by the officials).

1. The Bills first field goal attempt -- never,... never have I seen a 36 yard FG attempt start 3 to 5 yards left of the the left upright, only to miss by 10 yards right of the right vertical pole. The ball travelled almost as far left to right as it did from the line of scrimmage to the end zone.

2. The Cassel 3rd down quick punt -- just wacko. Wacky in and of itself, and awesome that Cassel's punt went farther than Brady's 03 kick, but I kept thinking how cool it could have been if he had kicked it from a line o scrimmage that was farther back. his punt was 57 yards, but because of the insane wind, that ball was never gonna stop -- granted, given the oblong shape of the ball it likely would have eventually wobbled out of bounds, but he could have kicked from his own 10 yard line and lobbied fort a 90 yard punt. That ball was gaining steam when it was downed at the 1 yard line -- as mentioned during the broadcast, it wasn't gonna stop until it hit a wall. Loved that play from beginning to end.

December 16, 2008

2009 Patriots

Just a quick, nice-to-have-to-worry about question. And by the way, all things being equal, obviously Brady over Cassel, but:

- Brady already had an infection after surgery, and the typical prognosis is around 10 months for his procedure... and this is a question I don't know the answer to: How much playing time - practice, pre-season etc., are the Pats going to see Brady in to see if he's back in Brady-form? What is their contingency plan... or what are they starting to think?...

- That Pats defeinitely need to add to their secondary in the off-season -- which will take some extra Spilocoli-dinero, after he pays for the pizza while learning about Cuba. But, if all that money is allotted to shoring up the secondary - and linebackers really, if Brady goes down or has lingering deficiancies, do we really want a 70% Brady or even 100% O'Connell -- a man who wasn't allowed one snap in last week's game? Even in the 4th quarter when it was an untouchable win?

- By the way, that lack of pulling Cassel... when you try to decipher why that was, don't the answers all seem a bit... interesting?...
--- Wouldn't you want to save Cassel from a very physical team when the time was right?
--- wouldn't you want your back-up to get some snaps in the NFL in case Cassel ever has to sit out a couple set of downs; i.e. a non-season-ending injury, whereby O'Connell has to at least keep the shiop afloat.

- Do the Pats tie up about 25% of their salary cap on two QBs - keeping Cassel - and look to work some behind the scenes magic in the front office - to improve the somewhat porous D.

Heard on the radio this AM: Assante Samuel intercepted a pass in last night's game -- had me flashing to that last drive by Eli last Feb -- why couldn't he intercept then. Spilled milk.

Bottom line -- I think Cassel should go to some team that will pay him big bucks, but selfishly, I want him to lean back on. Brady is not quite old enough for the Pats to think Young for Montana - Brady is just too good. But everyone is human, and what if this injury has longer consequences? Do you franchise Cassel, let him go unencumbered to free agency, or somehow keep him?

As Dennis Hopper said to Keanu Reeves: What Do You Do?...

Celtics and Lakers and Bulls (oh my!)

30.2% of the NBA season is in the rear-view mirror and the Celts are still on pace with the historic '95-'96 Bulls season (72-10), with a current record of 23-2, and have a 15 game winning stream going. The Green's streak record is 18. The Lakers are compiling a nice little season too, although at 20-3, its a little off Celtic-pace. Follow both teams' head to head match-up with Michael's Bulls at:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/features/best
Next real test for Boston doesn't come until Christmas night, when they tip-off against L.A. If they can win all games up tot hat point, they will be going for 20 in a row against the Lakers -- a nice little Holiday Gift for New England (that, and the Pats winning out, the Jets & 'Phins going 1-1 or the Ravens losing and Fish losing... oh yeah, and the Bruins keeping the best record in the East... oops, and one more: Texiera wearing a Sox cap -- whether it's the new hanging Sox or not, we'll take it).

December 15, 2008

The 'K' in SKG

I'm going to see Jeffrey Katzenberg speak this afternoon -- he's in town giving a presentation highlighting some of the new 3D technology DreamWorks is rolling into their upcoming movies. He'll be showing some select footage, so that's always kind of fun. I'm a sucker for gimmicks, even when they're done badly -- if Spielberg, Katzenberg, & Geffen are putting their name behind it, I'm thinking this 3D is probably pretty much must-see technology.

(I heard there were some glitches during the National Football League's 3D broadcast two Thursdays ago -- much of it because it was being broadcast live. I can't even imagine the cameras and technology that has to go into that one... Now if DreamWorks and the NFL got together, we could watch the Raiders vs. the Raiders of the Lost Ark in 3D).

December 11, 2008

Big Man Big City

Yanks with Sabathia -- I read recently that with all the money coming off the books the Yankees could sign every big free agent and be at 215 mill next year - since they were at 207 this year, that's not too far-fetched (especially since the coffers are even bigger with the new stadium). I could see Burnett and d-Lowe going there -- although I's fear Lowe more than Burnett.

Funny though with C.C. on two fronts --

1. given that the Yanks record was 8-1 against him, and that the Sox have a winning record as well (but not as lop-sided), Hank could have been happy if the Sox had pusued him too - a thought probably not lost on the Yawkey Way offices, and,...

2. With Moose retiring and C.C. coming in - and a look at both of their first eight years in the league - it looks as if bringing C.C. on board is a wash, rather than an upgrade. He certainly isn't any better than Moose was while he pitched in Baltimore, and I'd throw out that Moose was actually better than C.C. over the same periods in their career (and later as well), although I'd stop short to say they will be worse off with C.C. than they were with Mussina in his prime, since that's unpredictable.

{Of course, I have no illusions that the Yankees are done in Vegas}

December 9, 2008

Terms on the other side of their half-life

Now, this is going to be a continually updated post, so don't let the original post-date fool you into thinking it's dated...

Catch-phrases, terminology, and slang terms that have, in essence, 'Jumped the Shark' (the non-specific criteria for making this list is as follows: If the word or phrase makes me think that this is said way too much by way too many people in a verbal catch-all, then it's use is self-defeating -- by the way, that's not to say I don't find myself using all of these terms too... I just wish I didn't):

- At the end of the day... I used to like this one for a new way of saying 'After all is said and done', until it was said 14 times during an 11 minute conversation with a former boss.

- Jumped the shark (See? I told you I use these) this was more hip when not everyone knew what it meant... say, circa 1981, when some cable boxes were actually boxes that had a dial that you had to manually (the horror!) turn to one of the hundred or so channels -- which, incidently, is also the equivalent of my walking through the snow to school both ways for my kids: "When I was your age, I had to get up and change my own channels!".

- Bee-och Ummmm... no. Just no.

- Media Whore Seems to me the people who call someone this term are scouring all media for the current flavor of the day and when someone keeps popping up they are this (wait, that sounds uncomfortable familiar... oh well). As a term, it should've died when the X-Files was cancelled.

- Crackberry Term is actually not quite at its half-life yet, but it's fast approaching its own event horizon. I find it somewhat inversely proportional to saying 'text me', but not totally.

- 'Roid Rage Thankfully, this is reaching it's own end... seems to have died down ever since Clemen's curious press conferences following the Mitchell Report

- Wing Nut & Moon Bat Often used (at least in these parts) to decribe political leanings to the far right and extreme left, respectively. So old and stale they now sound almost mainstream for a term that is used to describe the fringe.

- Google it Another that hasn't lost it's touch yet -- I'm giving it halfway through Obama's first term though...

- ... degrees to Kevin Bacon Because I think I'm pretty good at doing this, my sense is that this is something I should not actually bring up in conversation and, as such, is somewhat self-defining for this list ;).

December 4, 2008

December observations...

- Rajon on the Rise. (Just is)

- The perfect Holiday Gift for those of you with scary man-crushes on certain ballplayers:
http://www.bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view/2008_12_04_A-Rod_s_undies_make_a_fan-tastic_gift/srvc=home&position=6

- Interesting take on the state of the rivalry -- one I actually don't really buy (I actually think Mazz is trying to show up on the NYC-readers radar); in my mind, it's just the way the wind is currently blowing before the final agreements have come down:
http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/massarotti/2008/12/as_sox_wait_yankees_worry.html

- With about 16 pine trees I'm thinking of excising from my property, I've been wondering why I'd have to pay for someone to take 'em down, when there should be tons of wood stove owners clamoring for my untapped fuel.

- Very sad - Longmeadow Lancer Football's winning streak came to a halt at 47 (state record is Acton-Boxborough's 54) on thanksgiving. On a rainy, sloggy field the Lancers drove to the 15 with no time -- since it was so crappy, they couldn't go for a FG and had an endzone pass tapped away, to lose 16-13 to East Longmeadow (see www.masslive.com). Insert farmboy epithet here:_____. But, hats off to East Longmeadow.

- Check this link: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/features/best
It was set up to follow the Celts pursuit last year of the Bulls' historic season record, but it's working again this year (with the Lakers added in too)... and who knows...

- Only from Larry Bird: Interesting to note that the Pacers account for 50% of both the Celts and the Lakers losses so far this year. I do think the Green will beat last year's regular season record.