mr. blackandwhite

666 quirks

I had a post written for today but it got lost when I accidentally navigated away from the page. Dammit. I'm not re-writing it.

In the meantime, I was tagged by The Army Wife, so here goes:

- I am facial hair impaired. I want to grow a fu-manchu mustache but I can't grow a mustache. At all. Even though I try. It just looks dumb.

- I don't like sugary candy, like skittles or gummy-bears. I only like chocolate bars.

- I have no resistance to chocolate chip cooooooookieeeeees. I will eat a whole batch unless I am scolded by my Wife.

- I actually believe stuff I do at home can affect the outcome of a football/baseball/hockey game. My actions have no affect on basketball games.

- I like scented candles.

- I am obsessed with my lawn. I want it to look like the outfield at Fenway Park. Weeds are my enemy and they shall be destroyed without mercy.

Take it and run with it. Happy Friday!

*FRIDAY BONUS*
I collect beer coozies. They keep your drinks cold in the summer, and your hands from getting cold in the winter. I've got Patriots, Matt Kenseth, #1 Dad, Dale Earnhardt, St. John U.S.V.I. and Supersuckers koozies in my collection. One for every occasion! Pretty cool, huh?

Kevin Faulk only smokes the killer weed..

I read the news this morning via Ang's site that Patriots running back and all around awesome jack of all everything clutch guy, Kevin Faulk, was recently issued a citation for the possession of.. (brace yourselves,) marijuana. But he only smokes it in the late evening. Sometimes, occasionally the early evening, but usually the late evening - or the mid-evening. Sometimes, early afternoon or late, mid-afternoon, but definitely NOT at dusk.

Linebacker Rosie Colvin was released by The Pats in a salary cap move. Colvin was a big free-agent pickup that, unfortunately, due to injuries, never really lived up to the billing that he got when he was signed. Despite his injury problems, Colvin was a player that I liked and when he was healthy, he was a great player in the Patriots 3-4 defense.

At times, Colvin was a terror to opposing QBs, but the injuries to his hip and later to his foot basically erased entire seasons, severely limiting a player that had huge amounts of potential when he initially joined the Pats. Even with the injuries, Rosie was a great contributor to the team, coming back and returning to form after a potentially career ending hip-injury.

Depending on the interest he garners on the open market, there is a chance that Colvin could return to the Patriots with a new cap-friendlier contract. That would be pretty ok by me.

The Patriots' off-season moves continue to be interesting. The linebacker corps is getting a big overhaul and depending on the return (or not) of Tedy Bruschi and Junior Seau, we could see more big changes down the line. The team has always preferred to go with the free agent market when bringing in LBs in the past. I wonder if the team is targeting a 'backer in the NFL draft that could be a potential starter in 08.. Hmmm. We'll see!

In Bill We Trust

(mood: Eddie Spaghetti - Killer Weed, Rev Horton Heat - Marijuana)

I can't say cause I don't know..

Last night I went out to The Dive Bar in Wormtown to see guitar player extraordinaire Troy Gonyea (of the band The Howl) and have some really thick, non-see-through beers.

The beers were good. The band was great.

Troy and his band, consisting of guitar/vocals, drums, keyboards and harmonica, were nestled in the back corner of this little bar and fully kicked all kinds of ass with some straight-forward, ear-pleasing blues-rock. I was extremely impressed and had a great time listening to these guys play. In between sets I went over to say hello and they were super nice guys to boot. Check out Troy's main band, The Howl, if you get a chance.

The Dive Bar specializes in serving micro-brews and imports, basically all the beers that you've never heard of before. Bud/Miller/Coors light are not available. (This is a good thing.)

I started with a Smuttynose I.P.A. Very tasty. I love good I.P.A. beer and Smuttynose does not dissapoint.

Next I decided to try a beer that I'd never heard of, or tried before, of which there were many. I went with a Weihenstephaner Dunkelweizen (I had to look that up on the Dive Bar's draught list to remember it).

Although I am fond of saying there is no such thing as bad beer, just some are better than others, I did not really care for this particular brew. It was not a 'bad' beer, it just was not my style. It had kind of a carmel-ish / chocolaty after-taste which I didn't care for. Purely a personal preference kinda thing.

After that I switched to a fine sippin' whiskey from Tennessee. A guy at the bar noted my choice, jokingly saying something about all the German beers I could be trying. I drew a smile when I told him that I'd rather have something made in Tennessee than something that comes from Germany any day of the week. Ha.

Great atmosphere, good brews and great music. Good times.

(mood: Hank Williams III: I Don't Know)

Becase I suck at netiquette..

Question:
If a website is linking back here but said website has not been updated in like, a year, is it considered ok for me to take that site's link down off of my own site? Or would that make me a total jerk on the internest?

Yes, I actually wonder about this stuff. I am not savvy when it comes to these things.

Out with the old, in with the old.

The Pats met with and reportedly made an offer to LB Zach Thomas yesterday. Thomas will continue to meet with other teams around the league before making a decision on which team he will eventually land with, but I imagine it probably feels nice to have an offer on the table from one of the contenders in the AFC.

Very interesting. Thomas is unquestionably a great player who has always terrorized the Patriots offense whenever they have played Miami. It is certainly exciting to imagine him playing defense wearing a Patriots uniform.

The main concern I have with Thomas potentially becoming a Patriot is his history of suffering concussions. After what happened with Ted Johnson, when I read about the Pats' interest in a linebacker with a history of concussions and migraine headaches, it makes me a little wary.

Thomas' age and his ability to switch to playing in the Pats' 3-4 defensive system are not really that much of an issue for me. I know everyone in Patriots Nation is screaming about how the team needs to get younger at linebacker, and I agree to an extent, but I am also not expecting the Patriots to go out and draft a linebacker, at least not one that can step in and be a starter right out of the gate..

The Patriots are known to prefer seasoned linebackers that have been in the league and already understand their jobs. Thomas will be 35 in September. He is definitely getting close to the end of his career at this point, but as long as the concussions are not an ongoing issue, I could see Thomas in a 1 to 3 year deal for the Pats.

We'll see where it goes.

The Pats are having another Dolphins player in for a visit today, receiver Marty Booker. I don't expect to see Dante Stallworth back with The Patriots next year due to his contract and Booker may serve as a good replacement. The Dolphins get weaker, The Patriots get stronger. Sounds like a plan.

There's also been some speculation that Ty Law could make a return to the Patriots. With Asante Samuel looking for a blockbuster deal, he will likely be gone next season and that means there could be a spot in the secondary for Law.

Of course Law is known for his desire to get paid himself, so it will depend what kind of money he is looking for. I don't know if Ty Law is still the same player that could essentially take away one side of the field from an opponent at this point, but I imagine he's still got a few Manning picks left in him. Cornerback is one area of the team that I'd like to see the Patriots bring in and develop younger players, but I don't think it would be a bad thing to see Ty Law in Patriots blue again. Maybe I'm just sentimental on that one.

It's still really early in the process but it's fun to watch The Patriots navigate the free agent waters as they take the first steps towards building the '08 team.

GO PATS

The story that wouldn't die.

There is a story in the Boston Globe today which features Bill Belichick's and Scott Pioli's comments regarding the videotaping scandal that dogged the Patriots all of last season and still refuses to go away to this day.

Belichick's comments on the subject confirmed what I had personally hypothesized about the issue all along, that he had interpreted the NFL's videotaping rules to mean that the taping of opponents signals from the sideline was legal as long as the tapes were not used during the actual game being played.

The actual rule, as taken from The Boston Globe article, states: "Any use by any club at any time, from the start to the finish of any game in which such club is a participant, of any communications or information-gathering equipment, other than Polaroid-type cameras or field telephones, shall be prohibited, including without limitation videotape machines, telephone tapping, or bugging devices, or any other form of electronic devices that might aid a team during the playing of a game."

Unfortunately the Globe article did not discuss or disclose Belichick's thoughts on the memo from the NFL that was given to all 32 teams in 2006 emphasizing that taping was not allowed from the sideline (and various other locations) during games.

Belichick admits in the article that he felt there was a gray area in the videotaping rules, which he misinterpreted. I can only guess that Belichick believed that the information in the NFL's 2006 memo regarding videotaping locations still fell under the umbrella of his interpretation of the NFL's videotaping rules and that as long as the video was not being used during the actual game being played, his ass was covered.

Sadly, as we are all well aware, that was not the case.

Overall I thought the Globe article did a great job of allowing us to finally hear some of The Patriots' side of the story regarding 'tapegate', (a term that I loathe by the way,) but I felt that the lack of discussion regarding the NFL's 2006 memo was a pretty big omission from the article.

Honestly, I am surprised that this videotaping story continues to live on. In my opinion it has been completely and totally overblown. I think the main reason that this story continues to live is because The Patriots don't give the haters much to latch on to. Except for a few exceptions here and there, members of The Patriots generally stay out of trouble, keep their mouths shut and win a lot of football games. 'Tapegate' is a story that Patriots haters have finally been able to sink their teeth into and the haters are acting like a dog that doesn't want to give up it's chew-toy. It's time to let it go. This horse was beaten to death a long time ago.

Yes, there is still the Matt Walsh aspect of the story. We are still waiting to hear what the former video assistant has (or doesn't have) on the Pats, but at this point, if anything substantial comes of that angle I will truly be surprised.

As I have said before, hate my team all you want. I hated the 49ers in the 80's and the Cowboys in the 90's. We're in good company.

GO PATS

Ryan Newman wins at Daytona..

Congratulations to Ryan Newman for his victory in the Daytona 500 yesterday.

As the laps were winding down, Jeff Burton, a long time fave of mine, held the lead and I was hoping that he would be able to hang on and get the win, but, as is usual at the end of Daytona, the caution flag flew and took away Jeff's momentum and eventually, the lead.

After the cautions and the inevitable change up front, I was hoping to see Tony Stewart get his first Daytona 500 win, but the yellow flag came out again and after more changes in the lead, in the end I was glad to see Ryan Newman take the checkered flag and the coveted Daytona 500 trophy.

Newman has always been one of my favorite drivers so it was nice to see him in Victory Lane at Daytona. No complaints here on the Daytona 500 finish.

Dale Jr. ran well and finished in the top ten (9th place) with his spiffy new Hendrick Motorsports ride. After all of last year's DNFs it was nice to see him finish a strong race and not blow up. Hopefully this will become a trend for Jr.

Latest additions..

The kids had a birthday party recently and we welcomed some new additions to the family, JB Rockstar and Snuggles.

JB Rockstar is a webkin. (My kids now have approximately 50 of these webkin things..) Snuggles is the angler fish, (obviously).

Update:
My Wife informs my that the kids actually have only 22 Webkins..

You got it. That's right you got it.

Well I've been fighting it off with coffee and whiskey and general good clean livin but it's finally got me. I am down with the sickness.

Of course, it did not help to have people coughing and sneezing directly into my face for the better part of a week or so. It's germ central at my house. That's what happens when you have kids.

Thankfully I had a backup package of Theraflu in my desk drawer here at work. Theraflu to the rescue.

Last night I saw the 'You're going to Disneyland!' ad for Eli Manning with Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison walking off the field in the background. That sucked. I was working on my taxes at the time. Pile on the fun!

Like many others in Patriots Nation I've been avoiding the news in general. I think there's a fancy word for that but it's escaping me at the moment... Oh, wait. Denial! Yeah there we go!

I just don't want to hear it right now, ya know? I'm trying to move on, avoid the negative talk and get to the positive stuff like looking forward to the off-season, the NFL Draft, gearing up for next year and getting ready for the next season, and reading shitty news stories detailing all that is wrong about the evil New England Patriots does not help.

Take for example, this morning, when I could not help but read about how the Patriots players who attended the Pro-Bowl (which = a total joke by the way) this past weekend were booed by the 'fans' as they came onto the field. None of the players from the other 31 NFL teams got booed, just the players from the Patriots.

What the fuck is up with that?

I gotta say, as ridiculous as it is, that really kind of fucking pisses me off. What the hell? You are booing guys at the Pro-Bowl? It's irrational, I know, but that really bothers me. It's not like this is the Pats taking the field in Miami or New Jersey and hearing it from the home-town fans, something that is obviously completely normal and is 100% expected. This is the Pro-Bowl, a time for guys who worked hard during the season and earned some recognition for their play to have a good time, enjoy the sun and play in a totally meaningless football game. I think it is really shitty that people in attendance at the 'game' would boo any of the players as they came out onto the field. Fuck you Pro-Bowl attendees.

I don't expect to see 16-0 again but God I hope The Pats come out next season and truly stomp the rest of the NFL.

2008 Opponents:

Home games
Bills
Dolphins
Jets
Broncos
Cardinals
Chiefs
Rams
Steelers

Road games
Bills
Dolphins
Jets
Chargers
Colts
49ers
Raiders
Seahawks

GO PATS

(Mood: You Got It - Mudhoney)

The Friday Song. Happy Reward Friday.

Today is finally Friday
I'm so glad that it's here
After work I'm gonna have some pizza
And a couple beers

There's no football on this weekend
The Pro-Bowl's really lame
I guess I'll read a book instead
Or watch a hockey game
hey!

(insert gee-tar mandolin or drum solo here)

Anyone know where I can find a local Patriots Anonymous Chapter?

Hi. My name's Ernie and ah, I'm a Patriotsaholic. I'm having a hard time dealing with some issues.

Despite my efforts to shake it off, I still have this damnable lingering feeling of disappointment hanging over me after Sunday's game. I try to stay occupied and put it out of my mind, tell myself it's a game and it shouldn't bother me this much, but during times when I am quiet and there is nothing really going on, sitting on the couch watching tv at night, I'll think about the end of that game and what might have been.

I know I'm no different than anybody else in Patriots Nation. We are all going through the same thing.

This sucks. I hate this feeling, and I know that it is stupid to be this way over a football game. Just the same, stupid or not, it is what it is. Who said anything about being rational?

Honestly, for the most part, I am pretty much over it, but I still get the occasional twinge here and there, that sinking feeling, usually after somebody brings up the painful subject and asks me how I'm doing.. I'm fine! Now stop asking! Fuck!

I will be glad when this is out of my system and it is gone.

Maybe the B's can string a few games together over the next few nights. That would help. They're clinging to that 8th playoff spot in the Eastern Conference at the moment. I don't expect them to win The Cup this year, I just want to see them get into the playoffs. Just get in and I'm good.

Yeah. Nothing like switching from one bottle to another.

Update:
I am sick of being bummed out over the Patriots loss in the Superbowl. The 07-08 Pats had a good run.

Bad Mood over.

GO PATS

Anybody got an extra 40 grand they want to give me?

As of today, the '08 Dodge Challenger is now a reality. You can now go into a Dodge dealership and buy one. Well, I can't, but some people can anyway.. Unfortunately, unless I hit the lottery, owning one of these vehicles will always be a dream for me.. {Sigh.}

I can't wait to actually see one of these cars on the street. You can keep your Porches and Ferrari's. This is my dream car.

Here's a link to a nice photo gallery for those of you who enjoy car porn.

Link: 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 - Latest Wallpaper-Quality Photo Galleries - Automobile Magazine.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go back to making the payments on our Toyota Sienna..

Killin' those post-Superbowl woes with The Supersuckers.

As you know, or can imagine, I was feeling pretty glum yesterday following the Patriots loss in the Superbowl on Sunday, but thankfully, I did have something to look forward to. I had a ticket for The Supersuckers show at Harper's Ferry in Boston later that night.

The Supersuckers are one of my favorite bands and even though they are 'always on tour', they don't get over to the East side of the U.S. all that often. So when I saw they were coming around a few months ago, I immediately bought my ticket. Seeing that the show was going to be the day following the Superbowl, I figured it would either be a nice way to keep the good times a-rollin', or a good way to kick some Superbowl blues in the ass. Turns out it was the latter, but hey, I'll take it. The show was a great way to ruin a really bad mood and get me back on track.

Finding my way to Harper's Ferry was not hard at all, it's basically right off of the Mass Pike. The problem was finding a friggin place to park. I drove up and down the road looking for some kind of public parking garage or something. I even stopped at a gas station to ask the attendant if he knew where there was some public parking but all he did was shake his head at me and mumble something at me.

Eventually, after driving around for a while, I figured out that Harper's Ferry is not that far away from The Paradise Rock Club, which is right near Boston University, which has, yes, public parking. Five bucks to park and a short walk and I was all set.

I got to the club around 8PM and when I arrived the place was empty. I was there by myself and was kind of tired from work and from driving around looking for parking, and I was still feeling a little bit of the Superbowl pain too. To be honest, when I first arrived at the club, I really didn't want to be there at all. Maybe if I was with someone, (I had originally hoped my Wife could have come with me,) I would have felt different but standing against a pole by myself watching American Gladiators on one of the big screens over the bar, I just felt like, 'This sucks, why am I here? I don't feel like hanging around here for an hour waiting for the bands to start.' In short, I was in a pissy mood. I almost said fuck it and left but I called my Wife and chatted with her on the phone for a while about her day and about what was going on at the club. That made me feel better and I decided to stick around.

Eventually the place started to fill up. I noticed the guys from Mess With the Bull in the crowd as well as a few other familiar, though personally unknown, faces that I had seen at other shows.. Same crowd, different band I guess.

A little before 9PM the first band started to play. It was a band I was not familiar with called Kingdust. They are kind of a heavy, hard rock, borderline metal band. Their songs were pretty good. Even though I didn't know any of the tunes, I liked most of them and I'm planning on finding out more about this band a little later.

After Kingdust's set, Eddie Spaghetti (singer and bass player for the Supersuckers) came out and did an acoustic country set with his friend Jordan Shapiro helping him out. Eddie played the acoustic while Jordan switched between the electrified guitar and the steel guitar (a.k.a. the hillbilly piano).

This was my first time seeing Eddie do his solo acoustic thing and I really liked the country-fied set that he did. Even though I was taking it easy and nursing a Miller High Life, there's nothing like a bunch of good country style drinkin' songs to help put me in a good mood.

Here's what I remember of Eddie's set (as usual I'm probably missing a few and this is not even close to being in order):
Bottom Dollar
Gotta Get Drunk
Road Worn and Weary
Cocaine Blues
You're the Reason
Misery and Gin
Sleepy Vampire
Sea of Heartbreak
Little Ol Wine Drinker Me
Doublewide
Non-Addictive Marajuana

Eddie ended every song with the chant, 'Cha-Cha-CHA!' and explained that it was part of the by-laws that he did that. 'It's written somewhere in the contract that I must end every song with 'Cha-Cha-Cha' or you don't get paid' (If your are not familiar with Eddie Spaghetti, if it's not already obvious, he does not take himself very seriously and is a pretty funny guy..) Of course by the middle of his set, he had the crowd into it and everyone was doing the 'Cha-Cha-CHA' chant between songs.

During 'Cocaine Blues' Eddie appeared to forget some of the words to the song, saying 'Oh shit!' but he kept going. I kind of think that was a planned thing though because later in the song, after a solo from Jordan, he was doing a little bit where he was going through and rehashing the first part of the song trying to remember the next line and asking the crowd for some help.

Planned or not, it was still pretty funny, and in what was definitely an unplanned moment, at one point Jordan accidentally knocked out the cord for his guitar at the start of a song. 'Why don't we try that again without me knocking the cord out this time,' he joked. 'Sounds good,' Eddie replied without missing a beat, and they started over.

The acoustic set was awesome, totally awesome. I knew almost all of the songs, many of them were long time favorites of mine, and Eddie and Jordan played them great and made me laugh while they were at it. When Eddie and Jordan walked off stage, my mood had improved considerably.

Now it was time for The Supersuckers to come out and rock. By this time I had gotten off of my seat at the bar and meandered up close to the stage, not that that was a hard thing to do. Harper's Ferry is not that big of a place.

Here is what I remember of the Supersuckers set (again, forgetting a few and not in order.)
That is Rock and Roll
Rock and Roll Records (aint sellin this year)
Rock Your Ass
Paid
Hell City, Hell
Bad Bad Bad
Creepy Jackalope Eye
I Want the Drugs
The Evil Powers of Rock and Roll
Supersuckers Drive By Blues
Dirt Roads, Dead Ends and Dust
Luck
Fisticuffs
Mudhead
Pretty Fucked Up
Fake Encore
Born With a Tail

The band also did four brand new songs that are going to be on their next album. All of the songs were fully kick ass. All of them rocked (and of course I can't remember any of the titles). I am really looking forward to this new album coming out because it is gonna rock, hard.

A couple notable items during the show in the 'characters in the crowd' department included some lesbianic dancing going on, Jordan Shapiro hanging out in the crowd to watch the band, and at one point near the end, some guys tried to form a pit, but they were not very good at it. They basically knocked into themselves and the people around them and then fell on the floor. Nobody tried to help them up. (Ha.)

As far as The Supersuckers themselves, they kicked ass in every way possible. The songs rocked, the solos were killer, the antics were entertaining and the banter was funny. The devil's horns were continuous and there was of course the obligatory Fake Encore (At the end of the show The Supersuckers pretend to do an encore where they say 'Thank you and good night!', all the while never leaving the stage. They stop playing for about 15 seconds and then carry on with more songs.) and the Supersuckers Salute during 'Born With a Tail'. Eddie was not happy until he got it. 'Alright I want to see every single middle finger in the air, let's see em! Even you leaning against the wall in the back!' he jokingly demanded.

At one point Eddie thanked the crowd for coming out on a Monday Night. Calling the show 'The Church of Awesomeology', he pointed over to guitar player Ron Heathman and said that 'L. Ron. Heathman over there has even written a book about it. It's got a volcano on the cover with a big jackalope coming out the top.'

Eddie told the crowd, 'Just by walking in the door tonight, you guys automatically became awesome. Even though you've got to go to work tomorrow, you said 'Fuck it' and you're here. You know there's a good chance you'll be hung-over tomorrow, but you said, 'Fuck it' I'm gonna drown my Patriots sorrows with a rock and roll show.'

'Those are my two favorite words', he went on, 'Fuck it'. 'Don't let those Patriots woes get you down. Fuck it man, fuck it!'

Exactly.

A few minutes after the show ended, Eddie headed over to hang out at the merch table and meet the fans. I have to say that it is so cool that he does that.. It's not something that you see done very often. I got his sig on my ticket and told him thanks for coming back around to the East Coast and to come back again soon.

I didn't get home till around 2 AM this morning. It was a late night that really, almost didn't happen. Thank goodness I decided to stick around and didn't bail on the show. The Supersuckers definitely helped cure those Patriots Superbowl woes.

And since I was saving room in my t-shirt drawer for another Pats Superbowl Champs shirt that is not going to arrive, I decided to grab an Eddie Spaghetti / Jordan Shapiro shirt instead. Fuck it.

And now, we move on.

A rough day for us Pats fans today. I'm trying to put last night's game behind me and not think about it, but it's not an easy thing to do right now. Aside from checking a few of my favorite sites, I'm pretty much avoiding any and all kinds of news today, from websites, to radio to television. I even skipped walking on the treadmill this morning so I would not have to see the news reports. I saw what happened. I don't need to have it rehashed and analyzed for me.

Thanks to the folks that checked in on me to make sure I survived the game. Yes, I survived. It was not a fun thing to watch, but I survived. I woke up today and my kids were smiling and asking, 'What happened in the game, Dad?' I told them that the Pats had lost and they were disappointed. 'We still like the Patriots though, right?' they asked. 'Of course!' was my reply, 'They'll be back in the Fall.'

'Ok. Good.' they said. 'We are going to wear our Patriots tattoos to school to show that we still like the Patriots.' (They had worn stick on tattoos for the game yesterday.) Then at that point they moved on with their day. It was on to other things.

I wish I could move on that quick but watching them makes it a lot easier to do.

To come so close to going 19-0 and then have it slip away in the final minutes of the game is tough. I waver between a hollow feeling of disappointment as I think about the outcome of the game, and the reminder that in the end, it is just a game. My smiling kids this morning provided me with the perfect reminder of that. It's time to move on and move forward. It's time to look forward to new things. The Pats had a great year but in the end they just came up short. That is what it comes down to.

Dwelling on the past is not something I like to do so I'll just say that The Patriots had a great season, and though the ultimate goal was not a achieved, I am still proud of the team. It's going to be a little rough for today dealing with the Superbowl loss but that will be out of my system by the end of the day. In the big scheme of things, it is a football game, a game that I probably get too wrapped up in to be honest, but a game none the less. We always have those three Superbowl Championships to fall back on, as well as the promise of a team that will continue to contend for more in the years to come.

Somebody actually asked me this morning if I had thrown my Pats gear in the trash after the game last night. Are you crazy?? Of course not. I am still wearing my Pats gear today and I will continue to wear it through thick and thin. We came up short this year. There is always next season.

I'm going to see The Supersuckers in play Boston tonight and I am looking forward to that. Nothing like going to see The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World to kick these glum feelings out the door.

GO PATS

18 and agony.

As a Pats fan, there's not much to say except the team had a tremendous season but came up short.. Just short. What are you gonna do? There's no use in talking about 'if this' or 'if that'. In the end none of that matters. Just tip your hat to the Giants who played a great game and now are once again Superbowl Champs.

To see the game and the season end the way it did for the Patriots.. right now, it's hard. And it hurts. But as my Wife reminds me, life goes on. It will be a new day tomorrow.

GO PATS

It's THE SUPERBOWL. And now it comes down to this. ONE GAME TO GLORY.

Hey what's up everybody. Hope you are having a great Superbowl Weekend. As I write this it is a little less than two hours before kick-off. Hopefully you have someplace fun to watch the game and a nice assortment of yummies to enjoy. The moment we have been waiting for is almost here.

I've been trying to keep things pretty low-key all weekend. Trying to stay distracted with jobs and activities, went to a Worcester Sharks game with the kids last night, stuff like that. If I think about the game I get all tense, so I'm trying to do things to keep my mind off of it. We've got some guac and bean and salsa dip for later. The main course for the evening will feature some Patriots Grid-Iron Griller brats for my Wife and I and hot-dogs for the kids. The whole family is decked out in Pats gear and is looking forward to the game, though I think my Wife is just hoping I won't have a heart-attack or collapse or something.

Hey, I can't help it. The Patriots are in the friggin SUPERBOWL and I get tense.

Earlier in the week when referring to this game, Tom Brady said,

"I think it's the biggest game in all of our lives. The entire team, and coaches, we're going to be remembering this game for as long as we live. We're either going to have great memories of this experience, or it's going to be a missed opportunity. There aren't too many teams in the history of the NFL -- none as a matter of fact -- that are 18-0 going into this game."

I don't think it could be stated any better than that. Every Superbowl is big. That's why they call it 'The Big Game', but not many Superbowls feature a team that is 18-0 heading into the game. This is the first time it has ever happened in the entire history of the NFL. This really is history. NFL history anyway.

This is either going to be the greatest moment in Patriots and, maybe, NFL History, (I'll leave it to others to debate that) or.. I don't want to think about 'or'.

The weekend started off in a really great way with Patriots linebacker Andre Tippett getting the call to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. So well deserved. Heartfelt congratulations go out to Andre and his family. Here's hoping The Patriots can keep the good times rollin' later on this evening.

ONE GAME TO GLORY. The FOOTBALL GODS BE PRAISED.

Enjoy the big game and GO PATS!!! I LOVE THIS TEAM!!

GO PATS