mr. blackandwhite

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

Stomp request

I was reading the Projo Pats blog and this story about the reaction of... well I hesitate to call them football fans.. um, assholes? Yeah, that fits.. the reaction of these nyc assholes to Tom Brady's injury by cheering and gloating really made me angry. But then I remembered that these are the same assholes that cheered when their own QB went down with an injury last season..

Hopefully there will be a few copies of the new york rags left lying around the Patriots locker room this week with the pages left conspicuously open to the story headlined, 'Yahoo! Brady Out For Year', helping to incite some extreme stompage by the Patriots D come Sunday at 4:15..

Next time Tom goes to don that ny yankees ball-cap, I wonder if he'll think about the general fan-base it represents and change his mind.. one can only hope.

GO PATS

Note to self: Would you click on some Brittney Spears tabloid trash story? No. Don't show them that these are the kinds of stories you want to read and think before you click..

Brady to IR.

It's the worst: Tom Brady will require knee surgery and is headed to Injured Reserve (IR) for the remainder of the season. What an absolute, tremendous waste, for Brady, for The Patriots and for not only Patriots fans but fans of the NFL in general. The best QB in the league is done after playing two series in game one. Fuck. 

At this point all I can do is send positive vibes out to Tom on his recovery. Hopefully he will return from the injury and we will see him take the field next season, but the bottom line is, I hope he will be ok. Get better Tom.

As far as Patriots Nation goes, time to rally behind Matt Cassle. I'll need to start remembering how to spell his name correctly without having to continually look it up..

GO PATS

Note to self: Its Cassel, not Cassle, you dim-wit. Think cassete, not castle..

Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst

As Angela said, for the second year in a row now, a Patriots season-opening win is overshadowed by terrible badness. The true status of Tom Brady's knee is still unknown as of yet but everybody in the world is saying it's a torn ACL and he's done for the year. That fully sucks giant rhino ass for us loyal Patriots fans. (Master of the Obvious, that's me.)

The best case scenario is that the MSM is wrong (that's never happened before right?) and its not a season ending injury for Tom (hey, I can hope). At the very least though, I think we can safely assume he'll be out for the foreseeable future. The Pats are bringing in some veteran free-agent QB's including former Bucs starting QB, Chris Simms, today. Simms showed a lot of potential before he got hurt (ruptured spleen) a few seasons back.

If Brady is out (arg), whoever his long-term replacement is will still have an excellent group of receivers, a solid o-line and a very good running game to work with. A lot of comparisons are being drawn to the 2001 season when Brady stepped in for Bledsoe. I think that the 2008 Patriots are a much better team offensively than the '01 team was, so Brady's eventual replacement will have plenty of weapons to work with. His job will be to take advantage of the personnel around him, manage the game and keep the screw-ups to a minimum.

Defensively, not much changes, except that the D will probably not get a lot of games with 21 + point cushions to work with. The D is going to need to step up and hold opposing offenses down. There will assuredly be several more games than expected this season where we will count on the D to win it for us. Keeping K.C. off of the scoreboard with one minute to play and first and goal at the 5 yard line was a good starting point yesterday.

The mantra of this era's Patriots Dynasty has always been 'team'. With Brady out The Pats will once again need to fully embrace that ideal. They get to legitimately have that 'nobody thinks we can do it' chip back on their shoulder as well.

One morsel of good news is that looking around the league, The Colts and Chargers both lost yesterday. With the exception of Pittsburgh, a lot of the teams people were picking to be at the top had bad days yesterday. Yes, it's only week one, but week one counts and I'm already thinking about playoff seeding.

GO PATS

We are [insert the 'F' word here]ed.

I tried to come up with a nice way to say it but let's be honest with each other here friends, Brady is hurt and Patriot Nation, we are quite possibly totally fucked. I'm reading all kinds of rumors flying around the web about the severity of the injury to #12's knee and it's making my stomach churn. 

I'm trying to remain calm, ignore the rumors and wait for the injury report but that won't appear for several days. In the meantime, there's nothing to do but reach for the Tums. (I may appear calm on the outside, but inside I'm screaming.)

Meanwhile, yes, The Patriots hung on for the win today, which is great. I am happy the team got the win of course. One down, 15 to go. Matt Cassel was not exactly inspiring but he got the job done. Kudos to the Patriots defense for preventing K.C. from tying the game when they had 1st and goal at the Pats' 5 yard line.. I'm not going to go through all the in's and outs. It was far from perfect but a win is a win.

Once the Pats game ended I watched the closing minutes of the NYJ / Miami game. I was rooting for Pennington and the Fish. They had a shot, but their comeback fell short in the end. Blah. I would like to rag on Farve at this point in the post but I don't have the energy. I'm too busy worrying about my own team's quarterback.

GO PATS

In contempt of Jimmy Page

Hey what's up everybody! It's Friday. Yay. I don't really have anything big to post about but I'm trying to keep the site updated more often now so here's a few miscellaneous tidbits..

I have not mentioned this but over the last few weeks I have been working to drop some weight. I noticed that I had been steadily gaining weight, a pound here, a pound there.. no big deal, right? Then the next thing I know, I've put on 15 pounds! Ack! Not acceptable (note: I have somewhat of a personal weight obsession). So when Patriots training camp was getting started I decided to use the Patriots' preparation for the regular season as a kind of motivator to get myself in shape along with the team. I dubbed it The Training Camp Challenge and my goal was to lose as much as I could before the first regular season game, which is this weekend.

I lost approximately 6 pounds, which, honestly, is kind of disappointing, as I was hoping to do better, but my Wife pointed out that that is a pound a week, which really is not that bad.. So even though I'm not happy with where I am, I feel like I did ok.

I'm going to continue my challenge into the regular season. My new goal: 8 wins, 8 pounds. I want to drop a minimum of 8 pounds by the time the Pats get to 8 wins. I'm hoping The Pats make me work for it and go 8-0.

--

I recently found several old friends from college and high school that I have not heard from in many years on Facebook and MySpace. That is pretty cool. I was pretty tight with some of these folks back in the day but when school ended we just kind of fell out of touch. That's how it goes.

When I first signed up on Facebook / MySpace, I was kinda lost. I really had no idea how it worked or what the whole point of either site was but I have to say, it has been a great way to find people. I am psyched to have re-connected with some old friends.

I was thinking of adding this wacky site to my Facebook and MySpace pages so my friends could read it, but I'm still kinda paranoid about the whole 'someone from work accidentally stumbling across my blawg' thing.. So I don't know. I'm thinking about it.. Any thoughts?

--

Last night during garage band rehearsal we were horsing around on some song and I was informed by one of the band members that I was 'in contempt of Jimmy Page'. Genius. I found this comment to be hilarious and being the wise-ass that I am, immediately launched into a really bad and poorly played Led Zep medley (sans Stairway, of course).

I may have to try and wedge some Clutch into our repertoire because I've been listening to 'Walking In the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks' like, non f-ing stop. I can't stop myself.

--

At this point I have nothing else to add. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

You're not going to believe this but..

I did not watch the Patriots game last night. I didn't see a single frame. Thursday night is when I showcase my lack of talent and rehearse with the garage band that I play in (technically it's a room over a garage, but, close enough).

And to be honest I really wasn't all that up for the game-that-we-have-put-firmly-in-the-past reminder-fest. So, yeah, kinda weak, I guess, but there it is. For what it's worth Brady didn't play either, so I really don't feel all that bad. Tom will be there when the real games start and so will I.

It will be interesting to see who's still on the team tomorrow (*cough -Matt Cassel- cough*).

Up next, The K.C. Chefs, I mean Chiefs. It's football season for real now.

GO PATS

Back

Hey what's up everybody? Long time no typey-typey.. Well I've been on vacation and have tried to keep the computer turned off whenever possible.. Not just logged off, not just put to sleep.. Off. In fact if it were not to keep track of some gear I was selling on e-bay and the tides at Hampton Beach, I would not have turned the thing on at all.

Vacation was awesome, as well as much needed. I'm happy to tell you there were days when I had no idea what day it actually was or even what time it was, since I was not wearing a watch or paying attention to things date and time related the entire time. My kids would ask what time it was and I'd say, 'half-past morning' or 'time to fire up the grill' or 'almost dark'. Awesome.

Two weeks go by fast and my vacation is, sadly, over, and it seems that Summer '08 is quickly following right behind it. Wow, sorry I was just overcome by a wave of minor post-vacation, Monday funk. It'll be ok though.

So now it's time to catch up and come back to reality. I have a ton of returnable beer bottles to cash in and I have to try and remember what my passwords are at work. What do I do for work again? It's something to do with computer-y stuff..

You know it's been a good break when you don't remember what you were doing when you left.

One thing I did follow while I was away was The Patriots, of course, and I must tell you, even though it's only pre-season, I'm a little worried about them. Just a little. The Pats have not looked that good in any phase of the game to this layman's eye.. It's only pre-season though (that's what I keep telling myself).

Pats / Ravens: Some worthless thoughts on a meaningless game..

It was good to see the Patriots back in action last night, even if it was only an enhanced practice session vs. The Ravens, and I must say it was great to hear ol' Gil Santos and Gino Cappiletti calling the game once again.

And now onto the worthless thoughts:

When given their first shot to impress the coaches and grab the job as Tom Brady's clipboard holder / 4th Quarter take a knee guy, neither Matt Cassel nor Matt Gutierrez seemed to do much with the opportunity, to me at least. Cassel never got into any kind of a groove. Gutierrez looked a little better than Cassel but I thought his play was still pretty erratic, though that could probably be partially blamed on the play of the O-Line, which did not look all that great either.

Kevin O'Connell seemed to do the best of the 3 QB's competing for the backup spot. He was also playing against the Ravens scrubs, whereas Cassel and Gutierrez started against the Ravens' starters and backups, something to keep in mind when comparing the QB's performance.

Receiver Chad Jackson did not seem to do much to improve his position while I thought that Jabbar Gaffney came in and did pretty well.. I'm really not sold on Chad Jackson at this point. Whereas Gaffney seems to generally make the catch when the ball comes his way, or is at least in position to make the catch, Jackson seemed to run the wrong route on several occasions last night and when he was in the right spot to make the catch, had trouble hanging on to the ball. 

I thought the running game looked good. All the backs seemed to run well when they got their chances. I like LaMont Jordan's straight-ahead, plow over defenders running style. I think he will make a good addition to the team. With Maroney, Faulk, Morris, Jordan, Evans and Ekel, the Pats are loaded at RB. I like it.

I thought the defense looked good. No complaints in either the d-lines or secondary. I really liked the way rookie linebacker Jerod Mayo, wearing the old Brian Cox #51, came out and was making plays. He seemed to be all over the place back there, batting balls and making tackles. I was impressed with his performance and hope that this was just a glimpse of what we will see in the future from Mayo.

Special teams did not look good. Poor kick-off returnage, puntage and coverage. 

As far as the overall game, it's pre-season game one, so you you can't expect too much from a game that's only a step above a scrimmage between two different teams. Thankfully the game did not go into overtime, which nobody wants to see during pre-season, and hopefully the Patriots who left the game with injuries are all ok.

Well that's it, a fan's perspective. Take it for what it's worth.

Next up Tampa Bay. The Pats won't play their next game till Sunday the 17th, so they'll have plenty of time to get m-f'd by the coaches and work on making improvements before we see them again.

GO PATS

(drop.io)

Pats / Ravens: So what if it's pre-season. It's football!

I am so looking forward to the Pats / Ravens pre-season extravaganza tonight. Yeah, it's only pre-season game 1, but who cares? It's Patriots football and it's back.

I don't really expect to see much from the starters tonight, maybe a series or two, before the backups and rookies take the field. There's a lot of evaluatin' that needs doin' by The Pats' coaching staff. It should be fun to watch, even though I'll probably find myself often wondering exactly who the players are on the field at any given moment..

In true pre-season form, I had a major Patriots apparel gaffe this morning. I was walking into work and realized that I had forgotten to wear my Patriots socks! Ack!! That is a pretty big fuck up, as the Patriots socks are a key ingredient to the Patriots Apparel Game-Day Combo, but, thankfully, it's only pre-season and that's what these games are for, to get ready for when it counts.

It will be good to hear Gil and Gino again.

In other news, in case you had not heard, Brett Far-vre has un-retired. He's so fickle that guy. Anyway, he's traded in the green and yellow for the green and white after being traded to the New Jersey B Team today.

Brett Far-vre as the Jets QB should make things a little more interesting in the AFC East, but I'm a little skeptical as to how much help he is going to be to that team. He's an upgrade over Pennington, in that he probably will not be hurt for half the season like Pennington usually is, but I think over the last few years in Green Bay we've seen that Farve can't do it all on his own. He needs to have a decent team around him, as do all QB's, and I'm not sure how decent the Jets are at the moment, having not paid attention to them at all since last season.. 

Like I said, it will be interesting to see how much help Far-vre provides and how much of an improvement he is (or not) over Pennington for The Jets. It might prove to be interesting next season as well depending on Far-vre's decision to continue to play or not.

Looking at the long term picture, it's kind of an odd move to me for the Jets to bring in Far-vre. He might provide a one year boost to the team, but what happens next year? How many years are left on his contract? Hmm, maybe I should pay more attention during the off-season.. I imagine the Jets cold probably get a #2 pick for Pennington and maybe they use that next year to land a QB.

And what about Pennington? Where will he end up? The AFC East is kind of hurtin for QB's outside of New England. Maybe Pennington will go to the Bills! Nah. The Jets would never send him somewhere in the AFC East.. or would they?? Hmmm..

I would think the Jets would be more interested in finding a QB that is going to help them long term and Far-ver certainly is not going to do that. Do I see Far-vre bringing the Jets into the playoffs? Nope, not really, but then you never know. There's always one surprise team every season..

Really, I could give less than a fuck because hey, it's the frikkin Jets. I just want to see a Far-rve smoosh-fest twice a year by Seymour, Willfork, Thomas, Harrison, etc etc etc. As long as that happens, I'm good.

GO PATS

(hey don't forget about my drop.io!)

Next year is here.

It's here. Patriots 2008. The new season gets started today with the opening of Patriots Training Camp. No more looking back, only looking forward. In two short weeks, the Pats will face the Ravens in their first pre-season game. It's hard to believe the first game is that close, but I am psyched for Patriots Football to be back, yes indeed.

I usually try to get down to at least one of the training camp sessions but I most likely will be unable to attend this year. The schedule does not look like it's going to work out in my favor and Bill Belichick will just have to get the team ready without me. I think he can handle it.

I was a bit concerned when I saw the Patriots' physically unable to perform (PUP) list this morning. There are a lot of guys on there! Are there that many players coming back from injuries or did these guys just forget how tough the Patriots training camp conditioning test is? There's no way for us to know, of course.. Either way, hopefully the PUP list will shorten significantly over the next few days.

Once piece of good news is that the Patriots reached a contract agreement with their last unsigned draftee, first round pick, Jerod Mayo, just before camp officially got started. This was great to hear. It's common knowledge that The Patriots defense is complex and the rookie linebacker cannot afford to miss any opportunities to begin soaking it in if he hopes to make an early impact on the coaches and the team.

Well that's about it for now. I have tomorrow off from work and I'll be going to the Sox / MFY game tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to seeing Josh Beckett pitch in person, and hopefully we will see the return of Big Papi to the Red Sox line-up along with several far-reaching dingers off of MFY pitcher Joba Joba Joba. Plus, frankly, I'm pretty burnt out and I need a little vacation. If I were toast you'd have to scrape the crispy black stuff off of me into the sink, that's how burnt I am. Yes, I need a vacation. A day off will be nice and of course a trip to Fenway is always welcome. I will rejoin the collective once again.

This will only be my second time attending a Sox / MFY game, a.k.a. THE RIVALRY (ooooo, ahhh) and it will be my first time seeing the MFY at Fenway. The other game in THE RIVALRY that I attended was in The Bronx back in 2003. That was fun and it was certainly a memorable experience. Tim Wakefield got the win and Roger Clemens got shelled by the Sox in that particular game. The Bleacher Creatures that surrounded me were not pleased. As a Sox fan in enemy territory on that day, I kept my enjoyment of the experience to myself, mostly. Heh.

Have a good one. I'll try to post more than once a month now that The Patriots are back in action :-)

In Belichick We Trust

Patriots Camp kicks in July 24

The news is out, all over town: Patriots Training Camp will begin on Thursday, July 24.

With the first pre-season game scheduled for August 7th, I knew Camp would be somewhere around those last two weeks in July. It's good to have the official date locked in so that I can try and plan to go down to at least one session.

In an example of my now obvious spoiled-ness, I was offered some tickets to a Patriots pre-season game and turned them down. In the past I would have jumped at any chance to get to a Patriots game, any game, pre-season or not, but now, well, I don't want to pay $$$$$$ to see a game that doesn't even count.

It's just not worth it to me to watch a quarter or so, if I'm lucky, of the starters and then sit and watch the scrubs come in for the rest of the game, a game that has absolutely no meaning. I'd rather save the money and watch the pre-season games at home in the comfort of my Man-Nook.

Of course, going and seeing the games live at The Razor is always fun, and it's not that I don't enjoy watching the pre-season games live and in person, but the big problem I have with pre-season games is that you pay regular-season ticket and parking prices.

Why should I pay the same price for a meaningless pre-season game, where the starters don't even play the full game, (and in some games, don't even play for more than one quarter,) that I do for a real regular season game?

If you ask me, pre-season tickets AND PARKING should be 1/2 price, but I am a cheap, penny-pinching bastard, so take that for what it's worth.

I recall Mike Vrabel commenting about the lack of crowd noise at The Razor due to the fact that 'real fans' are not in the stands anymore because they cannot afford to get to a Patriots game, and I think there is some truth to that, but I must also say, that the cost of 'real fans' getting to a game is a problem in every sport, at least when it comes to Boston teams.

Hmm. Somehow this post went from being a quickie about Pats Training Camp to a mild rant about the cost of ticket prices.. Well at least Patriots Training Camp is still free.. for the moment.

GO PATS

That's great kid, now don't get cocky..

Happy Friday everybody! I'm still enjoying the after-glow of the Boston Celtics' 17th NBA Championship. I would have loved to have attended the C's Championship parade yesterday. The weather was great and it looked like a good time was had by all. I went to one of The Patriots' parades a few years ago and it was a blast. I love a Championship Parade.

It's just a great feeling seeing the C's win another championship after 22 years, especially after the horror-show of a season they endured last year. I think I watched maybe three or four Celtics games total last season. It was just too painful to watch them lose night after night.

With the 2008 NBA finals being a Celtics / Lakers throwback to the 80's, it's been funny to look at the old pics from the '86 Championship celebration and see all the people wearing those painters caps and Ray Ban Wayfarers (I still have some of those actually).

I remember when those painters caps were the big thing. You were fully in style if you were wearing the painters cap, Wayfarers and high-top Nikie sneaks with the Sony Walkman headphones jammed in your ears. Ha! Pretty funny.

Now that the C's have won it all, as happy as I am about it, I have to admit to you, I'm almost as relieved as I am happy. It's going to feel nice to be able to just relax for a few months! All these championships are great, but man, they are extremely stressful! My sports related stress-o-meter has been through the roof! I need a break!

I need to decompress a little after the Red Sox World Series, The Pats chase for a perfect NFL record and Superbowl, The B's taking the #1 seeded (and #1 hated) Habs to seven games in the Stanley Cup playoffs and The Celts playing more playoff games than any other team in history en route to their 17th Championship. Whew!! I wonder what my average blood-pressure has been these last few months.

Now it's just nice, soothing Red Sox baseball on a warm summer night and the occasional NASCAR race till Fall, when the pennant race heats up and, hopefully for Sox fans, October, when the MLB playoffs begin.

Let's do it all again (except let the B's and Pats win at the end this time.)

Oh my goodness am I ever spoiled, or what?? Yes. I know it. Hey, at least I openly admit to it! I'm not ashamed of it, but I admit to it! HA.

One of the things I've been reading a lot lately is that the C's winning the championship has eased the pain of the Patriots loss in Superbowl XLII. I have to go along with that. That Superbowl loss was pretty tough. I've thought about it, painfully, for months. Seeing the Celtics get #17 has definetely helped put The Patriots' Superbowl loss where it belongs, in the past.

As Angela's Dad said, 'The Sports Gods couldn’t give up Super Bowl 42 because they were holding out for the Celtics #17.'

Makes sense to me.

Would I trade the C's 2008 Championship for a Pats' win in Superbowl XLII and an undefeated NFL season? Do me a favor and don't ask me that question ok? It makes my brain hurt a little to think about that question.

Ok fuck it, I'll answer it. The answer is no, even if I could, I would not trade it. I love The Pats, Sox, B's and C's and even though The Pats are head and shoulders at the top of the list, I would not, could not wish away one of my team's successes for the betterment of another. Besides it's impossible anyway so why waste time thinking about stuff like that? If I'm gonna wish for something, I'm gonna wish for a paid off mortgage and a swimming pool. And world peace, of course.

The thing that is really great is that The Pats, Sox, B's and C's are all built to remain contenders year after year. That's right Boston haters, the chances are pretty good that we'll be back again for more in a few months. Till then, enjoy your vacation from us!

(Oh yeah I AM spoiled.)

Am I the only one that thinks this is ridiculous?

Senator Specter from Pennsylvania thinks there's more to be uncovered in the New England Patriots' video library. Does it bother anybody that a U.S. Senator is actually wasting his (and OUR) time with this stuff??

From Reiss' Pieces:

"The issue I want to get into is what happened [with the taping]? What was done? What happened in all these games? How many were there? There are a lot more games involved in this sequence, from 2000 to 2007, than we know about."

This Senator has nothing else to occupy his time other than worrying about who taped what during some old football games? We are talking about GAMES here. There are so many problems in the U.S. right now and Senator Specter is worried about GAMES. This guy needs to get his priorities straight.

What else does Senator Specter think is going to be uncovered with an independent investigation of The Patriots video taping procedures? We already know that since Bill Belichick became their Head Coach, The Pats have taped other team's signals. The punishment that the NFL administered to the Patriots and Bill Belichick covers the totality of that rule violation. What else is there to uncover, that the Pats' video guys sometimes taped cheerleaders shaking their thangs as well? We know that too.

Recockulous.

I'm not upset about all this because I am a fan of The Patriots and I want this whole videotape thing to go away, I am upset over the flagrant misuse of taxpayer's time, energy and money by this Senator in his continuation of what is obviously now a witch hunt against The Patriots and the NFL.

Step back and get some perspective. All this is because somebody was videotaping from a spot on the field where they were not allowed to be, collecting information that is collected by every team in the league. It's called scouting.

With Matt Walsh finally coming out yesterday and admitting he that didn't have anything on the Pats that was not already known, the issue has at last been resolved, but Senator Specter wants to keep on digging. Digging for what?? I don't know and I honestly don't think he does either, but he's going to get to the bottom of it, whatever it is, right?

Hey Senator Specter (R), here's an idea. How about working on digging us out of Iraq, you tool.

I love this line, in response to a question about Specter's well known ties to Comcast (headquartered in Philly) and their 'squabble' with the NFL Network.

"I’ve read about it. They have been campaign contributors along with 50,000 other people. Last campaign cost $23 million. I don’t know what they contributed, but I’ve been at this line of work for a long time and no one has ever questioned my integrity."

Bullshit he doesn't know what Comcast contributed. I'm questioning your integrity right here and now, Senator.

There is way too much time being wasted on SPORTS ISSUES by our people in Washington D.C. Cheating in baseball? Don't care. Really. I DON'T CARE. Taping signals in football? Still, REALLY DON'T CARE. You know why? Because it's a game. Yes, its true. Sports: it's entertainment.

You wanna know what I think you should be spending your valuable time on SENATOR? Getting our guys the fuck out of the desert, that's what. When that's accomplished, then come talk to me about football game videotapes and semi-retired baseball player's taking steroids, or not. Ass.

Where's the Tylenol?

{Mood: Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown}

Update:
Holy fuck I just read this on the Projo Pats blog. It's the transcript of the statement that Sen. Specter (R) made on the floor of the U.S. Senate today. Way to take up the time of the ENTIRE U.S. SENATE WITH BULLSHIT SPECTER. Hey, now that that's out of the way, maybe you guys could work on something, really important. Hmmm. You've covered football, what else is there.. I don't know.. you'll think of something eventually, I'm sure. ASS.

Stunning news: I know absolutely nothing about the NFL Draft..

Despite a seemingly non-stop and never ending barrage of draft news, mock drafts, draft pick contests and all things NFL draft, I can honestly tell you that I know absolutely nothing about a single player in the NFL draft, who the top prospects are or anything of the like.

If I were hard pressed, I think I could name two people in the NFL draft this year, some Michigan O-Lineman named Long that Miami already signed, and Matt Ryan from Boston College. That's it.

I know people go nuts about the NFL draft, and seem to get nuttier every year, but I have never been able to understand the NFL draft phenom and trying to guess which player is going to get picked by what team in which spot. Is anybody ever right about these things?

Anyway, I don't want to sound like I'm picking on anybody who's a draftnic, I just don't get into it that's all. I admit it's a little strange considering how much I enjoy football, but there you go.

Saturday afternoon I'll go to Patriots.com at some point, check to see who the Patriots picked, nod my head and say to myself, 'Hmmm I wonder who that guy is.. Well he must be pretty good. Go Pats. Ok back to the yard work..'

If I had to make a prediction about the Patriots and their 7th Round draft pick this Saturday, I'd say the chances are very high that they will draft a football player, one that plays offense or defense, or they will trade their 7th pick to get other picks, in order to draft some other football players who play either offense or defense.

This much I know for sure, Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli are very shrewd when it comes to the NFL draft and I have no doubt that they will make some moves that will improve the Patriots this coming weekend, and that's the only thing about the NFL draft that I need to know.

In Bill and Scott We Trust

Pats schedule is out: back to back West Coast trips, 5 prime time games

Ok, the next milestone on the road to recovery has arrived. The Patriots 2008-09 schedule is here and we move one step closer to next season.

Travel-wise, I'd say the schedule looks pretty killer.

There are 2 sets of back to back West Coast games in there (ack!) and there are a total of 5 prime-time games scheduled for The Patriots, although it looks like the prime-time games have been spread out pretty well, for the most part, and there's only one Monday Nighter.

Having the Monday Night game follow a Sunday Night West Coast game might actually be helpful. Since they will essentially lose a day traveling after the game, the extra day to recover might be good for the team.

Who knows what will happen with flex-scheduling..

Sun, Sept. 7 - Kansas City Chiefs, 1:00pm, CBS (ok, fine)
Sun, Sept. 14 - @ New York Jets, 4:15pm, CBS (yup, no biggie)
Sun, Sept. 21 - Miami Dolphins, 1:00pm, CBS (yeah, home game in Sept. No broiled Patriots)
Sun, Sept. 28 - BYE WEEK (kinda early. Eh.)
Sun, Oct. 5 - @ San Francisco 49ers, 4:15pm, CBS (West Coast Trip #1)
Sun, Oct. 12 - @ San Diego Chargers, 8:15pm, NBC (West Coast Trip #2, ACK)
Mon, Oct. 20 - Denver Broncos, 8:30pm, ESPN (A back to back prime time game but at least we get the donkeys at home)
Sun, Oct. 26 - St. Louis Rams, 1:00pm, FOX (yup)
Sun, Nov. 2 - @ Indianapolis Colts, 8:15pm, NBC (Away game, prime-time, as expected)
Sun, Nov. 9 - Buffalo Bills, 1:00pm, CBS (yup)
Thu, Nov. 13 - New York Jets, 8:15pm, NFL Network (A Thursday prime-time game, icky.)
Sun, Nov. 23 - @ Miami Dolphins, 1:00pm*, CBS (Ah, down to warm Miami, (for The Pats, not me, dammit))
Sun, Nov. 30 - Pittsburgh Steelers, 4:15pm*, CBS (home against the Steelers, good)
Sun, Dec. 7 - @ Seattle Seahawks, 8:15pm*, NBC (West Coast Trip #3)
Sun, Dec. 14 - @ Oakland Raiders, 4:15pm*, CBS (West Coast Trip # 4, ACK)
Sun, Dec. 21 - Arizona Cardinals, 1:00pm*, FOX (Yup)
Sun, Dec. 28 - @ Buffalo Bills, 1:00pm*, CBS (Yup)

As far as the teams the Pats will face, it does not look overly challenging, but that is based on last season. It is impossible to judge which teams are going to make the big turn around this season and go from sucky 1st round draft pick hopeful to playoff contender, but that is what makes the NFL what it is..

Well, there you go. The schedule is set. Bring it on.

GO PATS

Avoiding the spotlight: No prime-time Pats game for kickoff weekend..

Alright everybody. Back to normal. Hope you liked my April Fool's makeover yesterday. Ha!

So what's going on around here? I was following the news out of the NFL owner's meeting the last few days and I thought some pretty interesting stuff has came out of it.

The first thing that comes to mind is that The Patriots will not be featured in any prime-time games on kickoff weekend, and that Robert Kraft has requested that the league give the Pats a good old fashioned 1PM Sunday game to kick off the season.

That is perfectly fine by me.

I was watching NESN this morning while on the tread-mill (Can't wait to ditch that thing and walk outside by the way. Will Spring ever arrive??) and some of the local blabb-o-mouths were suggesting that not being featured in a prime-time game during kickoff weekend was possibly a punishment for The Patriots (/rolls eyes.. STFU NOOB) and that the coaches and players on the team may like it but the fans do not.

I'm not even going to address the 'punishment' idea, because that is just stupid, but the the suggestion that Patriots fans don't like the idea of a 1 PM Sunday game to start the season? Wrong.

A normal 1PM Sunday kickoff for the '08 season? I like it. I like it a lot.

I am glad that The Pats are going to have a plain old 1PM Sunday start. I don't know about most people, but for me, all those prime-time games last year became a real drag as the season wore on. Yes, I realize that the Pats were in the big games because of their achievements over the course of the season, and that is great, but all of the back to back Sunday Night and Monday Night games got to be a little too much for me, and I am sure that after a while it got to be too much for the team as well.

The Pats will undoubtedly have a number of prime-time games on this year's schedule, but hopefully it won't be to the level that it was last year where the Pats played in the maximum number of prime-time games allowed by the league.

Kraft has also asked the league to try and schedule more of The Pats' prime-time games as away games this season in order to make things easier on the home fans. I don't see that as a problem either. Last year, a lot of The Patriots games were flexed into prime-time slots and that made things difficult for the people attending the games.

The league should not have any problem accommodating this request. For example, you know that The Pats / Colts game is going to be a prime-time game, and that's an away game for The Patriots. Check.

I think the overall sentiment that has come out of the NFL owners meeting, as far as the Patriots are concerned, is the desire to put last year behind us and start over with a new season, a 'normal' season without the hype, without the scrutiny and without the seemingly continuous spotlight on the team.

I think it's fair to say that The Patriots and their fans want move forward and forget about last year. I know I do. That seems like a funny thing to say considering everything the Pats accomplished last year, but despite all the records that were set and all the games that were won, I have to admit, there were times last year when it felt like a season under siege for The Patriots. After everything that happened over the course of last season, to have it end the way it did, it's obvious why Patriots Nation, team and fans alike, wants to move on and get a fresh start in '08.

We fell hard off the top of the mountain, but we are preparing to make the climb back again.

A normal 1 PM Sunday kickoff to start the '08 season, just like everybody else? Sounds like a good way to start to me.

GO PATS

/Breathes

Hey what's goin on web browsers?

I was extremely relieved to finally get the word yesterday that Randy Moss had signed a multi-year deal with the Patriots. (and going back to a few years ago, who would have thought I'd ever be saying those words?)

When free-agency started last Friday, I expected Stallworth to be gone and I expected Samuel to be gone, so it was not that big of a deal for me to see those guys leave the team, but I fully expected Moss to be back with The Patriots in '08 and when he was not signed sealed and delivered at 12:01 AM on Friday morning, I immediately started fretting. I then continued fretting and fretting and fretting. Moss' free-agency status was in the back of my mind all weekend. What a silly thing to be worried over! (Well, not if you're a Patriots fan..)

Anyway. I was able to breathe freely again on Monday when the word came down that Moss had signed with The Patriots and I can now look forward to three years of Brady to Moss highlights. With Moss and Welker remaining in the fold at receiver, I expect our offense to remain very productive and I have no doubt that the Patriots will fill in around the holes that were created by free-agency.

Good to have Bruschi back too. I did not think he would really retire.. Not with last season's unfinished business still on the plate. Junior Seau's status remains up in the air and I remain ambivalent about it.

I'm hoping to see receiver Jabar Gaffney stay with The Pats. Still waiting for the end result on that one..

IN BILL WE TRUST

On an unrelated note, the Washington Capitals scored a TD and a FG against the B's last night. Um, what the hell was that!? Tim Thomas was having a party in the B's net and everybody on the Caps was invited.

Ok The B's won 6 straight prior to last night so they were bound to lose one. Time to start a new streak tonight.

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)

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

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