The Colts- Dolphins game in Miami was a star studded even in South Florida last night. All of the minority owners came out to the sidesh... I mean, game, to make themselves look important.
J-Lo and hubby Mark Anthony, Gloria Estefan and her husband, along with the Williams' sisters and even Tiger Woods came to see Peyton and Co. take on Chad Pennington and the Miami Dolphins. To take a look at more pics, check out my girl Pigskin Loving Lady's site.
I'm personally not impressed by this fan fare. If I want to see stars, I watch award shows. But this is football. All of that doesn't matter, nor help me win my football pools that I'm in. Keep football the way it is, please and thanks. That red carpet-esque attire is not needed.
The Colts always find a way to win, and last night was no different. Although Indianapolis had the ball less than 15 minutes and only 35 offensive plays, they always seemed to stay toe-to-toe with Miami and ultimately win the game, 27-23.
While the Colts played a great game, I must point out Miami's lack of urgency towards the end of the game. The entire offense was sluggish getting to the line, with no timeouts left, and some of the play calling at the end of the game were questionable at best. By far, the worst 2-minute drive I've seen this season.
But my hat goes off to Colts QB Peyton Manning. At the end of the game, Suzy Kolber mentioned that he passed Johnny Unitas' record for most wins in the franchise*. When asked about his accomplishment, Peyton said the following,
"I don't feel comfortable with these comparisons to Unitas. But I'm very proud to wear the same uniform as Johnny Unitas. He was a real winner."
As a Baltimore native, that showed class to me. While I was young when the Baltimore Colts left and have really grown with the Ravens, every now and then I get uneasy when it comes to, attaching Peyton Manning to the Baltimore Colts. The fact that Manning avoided that comparison spoke volumes to me. He's always been a classy guy and that was a classy move. Not to just Johnny U, but to the fans of Baltimore who still have some disdain for what happened 25 years ago.
Thanks for staying classy Peyton.. and Great game!
With the 2009 NFL season approaching us, the Indianapolis Colts have dealt with a lot of adversity off the field, with 4 coaches either retiring or resigning from their respected positions
Tongy Dungy? Retired
Ron Meeks? Resigned and now the DC for the Panthers
Russ Purnell? Gone
And with the recent retirements of offensive coordinator Tom Moore and offensive line coach Howard Mudd, many have wondered if this is too much to lose, all at one time?? Will they be competitive?? Will they be able to overcome all of the changes?? Will they suck this year?? Fans are curious.
Out of all the coaches gone, I think Tom Moore's departure will hurt the least. This team has a built-in OC in Peyton Manning. It's no secret that he basically runs the offense himself. While Moore would call a play to Manning's headset, you could almost bet your paycheck that Manning would change the play at the line of scrimmage, once he sees what the defense is doing.
This isn't to discredit Moore. He's been in the NFL for over 30 years, and it's clearly not because of his good looks, so he must be doing something right. But everyone, including Moore, knows this is Manning's ship and he's the real captain. I think the offense will be fine.
My question mark comes from the defense. While the Colts D' have only seen recent success, basically from the 2006 playoffs until now, Meeks was Dungy's right hand man in running the Tampa 2 defense. This actually may be a blessing in disguise for a team that was never stout on defense, but it's not always the system that needs to be tweaked. Dungy was a defensive mastermind. Sometimes it requires the right players. I'll be looking closely at how the defense fairs.
But the biggest question is, how will Jim Caldwell fare as the new head coach?? Caldwell has huge shoes to fill. Dungy was regarded as one of the league's top coaches during his tenure with Tampa Bay and Indianapolis. His retirement and current winning season streak adds a lot of pressure on Caldwell. Mix in multiple coaches no longer with the team, and I smell pressure. That's a hard hit to take no matter what organization you are, but to be a rookie head coach and lose guys who you've had a re pore with already would make nervous.
So how do I think they will fare??? Well since Manning has made his displeasure of the departures verbal, coaches Mudd and Moore are looking to return to the Colts as coaching consultants. But will be be enough to help Manning and Co on the field?? The good thing is the Colts play the NFC West, one of the league's weaker divisions. The bad thing is, the Colts play the Patriots and the resurgent AFC East, in addition to their own competitive AFC South. Indy has always been a high powered offense, but if the Colts continue to be at the bottom in rushing (they finished 31st in rushing in 2008), sans Marvin Harrison this offense can be in trouble. Defensively, how they will fare is similar to a crap shoot. It could go either way on any given Sunday. But hopefully with Caldwell's previous experience with the team and players leadership such as Manning, Reggie Wayne, Bob Sanders and Dwight Freeney the team can overcome the adversity that sits right at their front door.
Okay, so I did something I said I wouldn't do and watched the Pro Bowl, or at least tried to (I say every year that I won't watch. But like a train wreck... you want to turn away but simply can't).
Once the Pro Bowl was over, I turned my attention to the 2009 Grammy Awards. I wanted to see what the hype was about. I'm sure many of you football fans, like myself, watched both just to stay occupied.
So let's look at what was the better entertainment for the evening.
Pro Bowl Highlights of the Evening- There weren't many, really. The AFC came out strong with Peyton Manning as the General in the 1st half. But with every AFC QB that followed, the quality went down a notch. Manning continues to show that he is in a class of his own (well, you can add Brady to that list, but he wasn't there, now, was he?!).
Once he left the game, the NFC slowly started to find their rhythm.
One of the best highlights was Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald. With the 1st half closing, Drew Brees threw a 46 yard pass and to no surprise, Fitzgerald caught it with stride. It was a really good play that let the NFC catch up to the AFC, 14-10.
The 2nd TD pass that Fitzgerald caught was just as good. The ball sat in mid air which seemed like, forever. He jumped up right over Titans CB Cortland Finnegan's head and got the 2 yard TD. He was definitely deserving of the MVP title he received in the end, as the NFC defeated the AFC 30-21.
The last highlight that I thought was pretty interesting was the trickery play from the AFC in the 4th quarter. Most call it the "fumble rooski", regarding the play that put Ravens FB Le'Ron McClain in the end zone. Nonetheless, it was creative and fun to watch. If you missed it, here it goes:
Grammy's Highlights of the Evening- There were a few, and it was pretty good. First off, Whitney Houston came out and looked GREAT! I love Whitney (or as my friends and I call her, Whitty Hutton, from the TV show "Martin"), so to see her looking great and healthy was a highlight for me.
There were also some great performances. Jennifer Hudson did very well, I enjoyed her set. I also enjoyed Al Green and Justin Timberlake singing Green's songs.
Coldplay had a good performance, which included Jay Z as a special guest during their performance (I love that song Viva La Vida, by-the-way).
But the highlight of the night is a split decision for me. Adele was very persuasive and why she won the Best New Artist with her perfomance. The other performance that I appreciated was Jaime Foxx and Ne-Yo alongside Smokey Robinson and Duke Fakir. I'm a sucker for "old school music" and I think old schoolers still know how to jam like they did in their prime. Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo both are very good performers themselves. The combo was a perfect fit.
Pro Bowl Lowlights of the Evening- Oh goodness, where do I begin??? Let's start with those lame interviews from Tiki Barber and Andrea Kramer. Now Kramer is excusable. She was trying to make something out of nothing, because the Pro Bowl sucks and has no real story lines. But Tiki asking his brother Ronde if he thought he felt more accomplished than him? I could care less.
You guys are twin brothers. Discuss this petty conversation over Sunday dinner. But don't waste my time, please and thanks.
Another thing that bother me was every interview was mainly to free agents asking them where did they want to go next year. And the players kept giving the same diplomatic answers, "Well, I want to stay here, so we'll see. But anyone that wants me..." Bullcrap. You know you want to really say, "Screw you [insert team here] for not signing me before my contract expired. But I'll show you, I'm about to get PIZZ-AIIDD". Please save it.
Other lowlights of the game.... Ummm, pretty much everything. Defenses at the Pro Bowl can't blitz, they can't stunt... they can't do anything interesting. No sighting of Polamalu's hair whisking in the wind at the line of scrimmage (which is something that is out-of-character, almost). Oh and the halftime show with Enrique Iglesias and Ciara was a great bathroom break for most folks. The game was a snoozer!
Grammy's Lowlights of the Evening- Oh, the Grammys did have it's bad moments, mixed up with the good ones. First off. Kanye.... What the hell is wrong with you??? He reminds me of a Full Force reject from the 80's with that Jheri Curl mullet.
I'm sorry but wherever he dropped his mind off, I'm going to need him to go back and get it. Clearly he's lost something. His partner-in-crime Estelle looked even worse with both of them looking like 2 disco balls. One wrong spotlight angle and they could've blinded the whole theater
As bad as Kanye looked, I don't know if he was worse than artist M.I.A. With her dude date the day of the Grammy's, she still found a way to perform with T.I., Jay Z, Lil Wayne and Kanye for the "Swagger Like Us" song. She looked like a ghetto Tele Tubbie. I think pregnant women are beautiful, but I thought her outfit was dumb. And her red carpet outfit was just as bad. Please someone, get this woman a stylist and a hospital bed!!!
Last but not least, Stevie Wonder and the Jones Brothers. It was like mixing oil and vinegar.Sorry, i thought it sucked
While the Grammys lowlights were very noticeable, they win this battle by a landslide. Honestly, The only reason why I added the Grammys to this equation is because this is a football blog and the Pro Bowl was so dead, a blog about nothing but the game couldn't live on its own. It needed another program to prove, yet again, how lame the Pro Bowl is and how pointless it is to use airtime for it.
Guess you'd have to be in Hawaii to enjoy it. Oh well........ better luck next year in Miami, NFL.....
It's Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 4:54pm. I'm sitting here... with nothing to do. Absolutely nothing. I am nervous, my hands are clammy and I'm down. Most of you already know why and feel the same way I do.
Okay, so I embellished a little, regarding my nerves. But I am sad. This is the first Sunday since August that a football game of any capacity has not been on. And once the Super Bowl is over next Sunday, I have no idea what do to with my Sundays anymore (for the record, the Pro Bowl is not worthy of my time). I'm not a big basketball fan, hockey is only good when the players fight, and even spring training baseball doesn't matter to me much because my team sucks.
I know there are tons of others out there that are feeling PFA just as I am. You ask what is PFA?? That stands for Post Football Anxiety. I don't know if a condition like this actually exists, but it should. Tens of thousands of people, like myself, are are feeling like we lost our best friend and don't know what to do to fill the void. We'll feel empty inside, at least until training camp starts back up.
So I've come up with a list of things you can do on Sundays to waste time until your favorite team jogs back on the field on their quest to make the Super Bowl (or for some teams, their quest to be better than a laughing stock of the league *cough*Detroit Lions*cough*). Read these rules and act accordingly. It will save you until the football season starts back up again Stop Neglecting Your Children/Godchildren For Once
Okay, I know I'm not the only parent that is glued to the TV when their favorite team is playing. The conversation between my son and I typically go like this on Sundays:
Son: Ma, can I... Me: SHHHHH!!! Flacco is about to throw Son: But Ma, I'm Hung... Me: Didn't I tell you to be quiet?? I can't hear the TV. The Ravens are playing! Son: But I'm Hungry..... Me: (inattentive) Uh Huh... gimme a minute baby..... When the commercial comes on I'll get up
20 mins later... Son: Ma, I'm star... Me: Look now! I'm gonna beat you if you don't leave me alone!!! Son: *stomps away*
A lot of us parents/godparents are guilty of not paying their child or children an ounce of attention for at least 3 hours. And sadly enough, we don't really care. As long as the ambulance, police or the Fire Dept don't show up at the door, we don't care what they do. It's a shame, really...
So let's use the time to do whatever the kids want to do. Let them think it's all about them again. Take them wherever they want to go, or let them play any sport they want. But keep reminding them that their time is slowly running out, and that pretty soon you'll be back into football mode.
Just say to them, "Okay baby, we can go there today. But remember, in 15 weeks, football season starts back up. So all of this will come to an end, mmmkay?!" If your child knows the program, they'll be okay. They they don't want to accept it, tell them too bad, so sad!!
Become A Bar Hopper
Every Sunday at 1pm, visit a new sports bar/lounge and watch the other sports on their TV. For every 1/2 hour that your favorite football team is supposed to be playing (which is about 3 1/2 hours), start taking shots in honor of that team. Also buy a beer to go along with those shots. That way, every time you take a shot, you hold the beer up and yell, "Cheers" to everyone and take a sip. Then proceed to pour a little bit of beer on the floor and say, "This is for all the players who ain't on the field today" and sing the first verse of "Gangsta Lean" shortly after.
Three things could happen if you follow this rule. One, you'll be too drunk that after the 3rd shot you'll forget football should even be on. Two, if you aren't drunk, you'll be having a great time, because other PFA sufferers will be there and feel your pain and join in. Or three, the bar manager will kick you out of their establishment and ask that you never return.
Anyway you look at it, it will temporarily take your mind off the loss of football. You may have a hella hangover because of it, but the mission was accomplished.
For Ladies Only: Shop Til You Drop
There are tons of us girly girls who love the violent sport of football, myself included. There is room in our hearts for pumps and pigskin that holds equal.
Come up with a Sunday budget and hit every weekend sale you possibly can with your budgeted amount. Make sure you do this between the hours of 1pm and 7pm, or else this won't help you cope. The longer you stay out, the more you'll forget that usually at this time of day, Peyton Manning has scored somewhere. Or John Madden has mentioned Brett Favre for the 1,000th time elsewhere. For Men Only: Support Your Local Gentleman's Club
Fellas, you should also budget for your soon-to-be weekly coping mechanism. Make sure you don't take enough that your significant other doesn't get too mad about it if she finds out what you're doing. So no Champagne Room episodes for you. By a drink, sit at the stage and give out $1 bills, not exceeding ten dollars.
Make sure you say, "What's up" to Adam "Pacman" Jones while you're there. He's there for the same reason. He suffers from PFA, too
