the undercover niners fan

courtesy of sfgate (shh...they don't know)

the other day I was walking through downtown sac on my way to grab lunch when I noticed a lot of people wearing 49ers gear...t-shirts, jerseys, jackets, hats, etc. I know, in northern california there are only two football teams (well i guess that's debatable...) so when one of them is playing in the superbowl, it makes sense that people will be showing their support. The weird thing is, where were all these jerseys and jackets in 2005? Or for that matter 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010? I dunno, not trying to call anyone out, just a superbowl week observation here in Sac. Of course, being an eagles fan, I feel I'd be a bit more objective in making such a statement (as we haven't had a good year in a while). Well, I suppose regardless of who you're rooting for, what matters is that you have fun.

bumfuzzled.

I don't know if you've ever been in this situation before. You know that feeling, where everyone you know is at the prom, and the remaining people you kinda knew who didn't go to the dance went to the movies, and forgot to call you? So instead of dancing or catching a movie, you're just bumming around at home watching TV and wishing you were out and about? Well i'm almost certain that's what Villanova's basketball team is feeling right now. Due to an abysmal season, they were left out of the NCAA tournament, and even worse, the NIT (college basketball's consolation prize) didn't extend an invite either. So, they were pretty much sitting at home watching the tournament on TV.

I've been following 'Nova basketball most of my life, and this year was pretty sad. They started off doing alright, then kinda fizzled out after the first few games. Combine that with the fact that they're in a tough conference with some heavyweights (Big East got 10 teams in the tourney this season), and that resulted in 'Nova pretty much getting slapped around most season. *sigh* There's always next year seems to be the chronic battle-cry for all the teams I support since, well, ever.

missed the bandwagon...

It doesn't matter if you avoid the TV, turn the radio to classical on the morning drive, or completely ignore the internet this morning, it's unavoidable that you'll hear someone, somewhere, talking about tebow-mania. You got elementary students tebowing next to school busses, radio commentators on sports and christian radio stations gushing about this hairy-faced kid, even pastors mentioning him in sermons.

I'm not sold yet.

Don't get me wrong, the guy's got talent (I don't think he would've gotten drafted otherwise), and he's a good role model for kids and grownups alike. I just don't see how one game, one game changes all of that. I'm still not sold on the "tebow magic" or what everyone characterizes as a game-changer. I think that's not giving others on the team the credit they deserve for the victory. Denver's defense got five sacks on the steeler's QB and the offense was playing better than usual. I still don't see how it's tebow magic (at least I'm not convinced yet).

I don't mean to be a downer or anything. I mean he's a good player and if I had kids, he'd make a great rolemodel (although Brian Dawkins on the Broncos is also a good rolemodel). I dunno, maybe after a few more weeks of winning I'll be convinced, but for now, you will not see me tebowing, or gushing/fawning, or tatooing I *heart* tebow anywhere yet. We'll see how he does against the buzzsaw next week.

100 words | five stages of grief

I’m not sure how other sports fans react to their team’s ultimate demise, but I tend to go through the five stages in my own way:

The Phillies were cheated… the umpires were conspiring against them (Denial)
Grrr… the cardinals suck… (Anger)
If the Phillies win the world series again… I just know I’ll have a new zest for life! (Bargaining)
Phillies suck. Baseball sucks. Time to watch NASCAR. (Depression)
It’s going to be ok. They’ll be back next year. (Acceptance)

That’s ok… it’s football season has started and the eagles are still in contention for the division title. (Denial)

sad.

OMG WTH AARRGGHH. Bleh.

soo sad... =(

next year.

game 4: initial thoughts/reaction...

OMG WTH just happened?! the phillies and their all-star rotation were supposed to dominate this series! All four espn analysts has phillies in either 3 or 4. How did they end up forcing a game 5?? nuts...

100 words | Thank Goodness It’s Monday! (stench, cont’d…)

Wow… I’ve never looked forward to a Monday so much in my life! Ok… not only did the eagles implode in the second half of their game, the Phillies last night, with Cliff Lee on the mound, blew a 4-0 lead to lose the game 5-4. Oh my freakin goodness, what has happened to philly sports?! The only good thing I can think of about yesterday is that it is finally over. Seriously, if the Phillies and Eagles don’t pull it together, it’s gonna be a bad fall/ winter coming up. C’mon guys, we are gonna need a win soon!

100 words | what the heck is that stench?!

That stench, my friend, was today’s eagles game. Between the inept and ineffective defense, to a rookie kicker that choked and shanked not one, but two short field goals, It’s pathetic. It’s embarrassing. I think I’ve seen a better game out of my alma mater, st. francis. I’m almost certain they’d put up a better fight. I seriously haven’t seen an eagles team stink this bad in a long time, especially with the amount of talent this team has on both sides of the ball. If they actually felt like winning a game or two, they need to change everything.

100 words | tempting fate

I wrote yesterday that the giants need to stop talking. I wrote yesterday that all they do is talk about winning and that nothing was going to stop them now (like Jefferson starship). I wrote yesterday that they spent the last few years getting slapped around the arena by another team (eagles). Yesterday, I had tempted fate. Now, the prudent thing would be to say I spoke a bit too soon. The prudent thing would be to admit I may have been wrong. Nah…eagles’ll see them again and when that day comes, well, do I really need to say it?

100 words | shut up, new york

So it seems the giants have been talking some serious trash. They’ve been taking verbal jabs at the eagles and an injured mike vick all week as the giants prepare to take on philly this Sunday. Regardless of how the game turns out, I’m not really sure what all this pretalk is really going to get accomplished. It’s not like it’ll help an impotent giants offense score anything. And yet the giants, who play the eagles twice a year and have not notched a win in the series since the GW Bush administration, still see fit to keep talking. Nice.

Jason Babin: Football is like Dating…

I saw this quote this morning on yahoo sports and thought it was pretty interesting/funny. Eagles defensive end Jason Babin talks about the run defense for Sunday’s game against the Falcons: “That’s the No. 1 goal: Stop the run,so we can rush the passer,” Babin said. “First and foremost,we know we have to stop the run. It’s like when you’re dating,there’s certain things you’ve got to do. That’s what stopping the run is: Buying ‘em dinner.”

Nice. I wonder if more athletes used these kinds of analogies,would more women watch football? Probably not likely…but worth a shot I guess.

My Sunday night prediction: Eagles 34,Atlanta 24.

football in december...

December is often when the football season gets juicy. It’s the last couple of weeks in the regular season and most football fans are on the edge of their seats eager to see their team get into the playoffs. It’s also, in case nobody’s noticed, freezing cold in most of the US. Why would anybody would want to go to a football game in December when it’s raining or snowing or hailing or more than one of the above? The games are on TV in HD. You can see the game closer, get instant replays, watch from cool angles like the skycam, and you get the yellow line.

Ok ok…I know that there’s the excitement of being there live and the camaraderie of being surrounded by fans there to witness a potentially historical game, and I’m sure diehard fans will tell me I simply don’t understand what being a fan is about (btw I am a diehard eagles fan, but have no desire of standing in the snow to watch a blizzard in a stadium), but dude, it’s snowing! For fans in green bay and new england, it’s pretty much blizzard conditions for all of december. The Russian army has won wars by fighting in these conditions, freezing out enemies wearing substantially more than cheeseheads in body paint (and probably passed around just as many flasks as these guys).

I get going out to the game when it’s nice out, or even raining a little. You do get to enjoy the atmosphere of the fans and the excitement of being where the action is. Yep…pretty cool. I’ve been to my share of exciting sports games, and it’s definitely an experience that I would like to repeat, but not in blizzard conditions. Yet, there’s something about having to plow a car out of the snow, driving in traffic for 4 hours, peeking out of your poncho to watch what I’ll admit will be a pretty fun game, and getting stuck in gridlock in the parking lot afterwards, that just doesn’t quite appeal to me.

One last thing to put this in perspective: the players standing out in the blizzard are getting paid millions of dollars to brave the wind and snow and hail for those four hours. You paid for your seat to brave the wind and snow and hail for those four hours. What’s wrong with that hi-def picture?

what you won't see on espn...

This clip really makes you think sometimes…




When I first saw the movie Lord of War a few years ago, I walked in 5 min late and missed the intro. The rest of the movie was so intriguing I rented the movie a few days later just to watch the beginning. Most movies (including this one) are a figment of some creative mind’s imagination, but this movie does carry a sad truth.

This month the world’s attention will zero in on Africa for the world cup. South Africa will be putting its best foot forward, showing the world that Africa can indeed host an international event of such proportions. The sadness of it all is that while the world’s focus is on Africa, it will miss a glaring and ugly side of the continent: they’re killing each other. All across Africa, from Cote d’Ivoire to Sierra Leone to Somalia, civil wars and local feuds rage on, claiming millions of lives and pressing an entire generation of youth into armies and militias.

I wonder, when ESPN covers the world cup this year, how many minutes of airtime will even be spent mentioning this sad fact? When NBC covers the Olympics, they spend the bulk of the downtime between events talking about either athletes’ personal stories or the host country’s local culture. So how much of ESPN’s downtime will be devoted to talking about Africa’s darker side?

olympic frustrations

Being a viewer on the west coast, I thought, FINALLY! I can watch the Winter Olympics live! Since the Olympics are in Vancouver I was stoke to be able to share the same time zone as the games, giving me the grand opportunity to watch curling and women’s ice hockey without having to wake up at 4am for a match. Of course NBC, doing the most logical thing, set the programming so that if you’re a U.S. viewer, you can watch the games live… unless you live on the west coast. So we get to see curling on a delay, while folks in Greenland can view live. Great. I don’t get how east coast and Midwest folks get better and more timely coverage of the Olympics than the west coast folks. Do people in the east and Midwest really want to see MORE snow and winter?? As if the last 3 straight snow-days weren’t enough, now they’re stuck indoors watching cross-country skiing.

Kudos to Canada for beating Slovakia 18-0 last week…19 shots on goal and they score 18…nice. Although I’d hate to be the one person that missed the shot…

Curling athletes look to be the least physically fit athletes in these games…I think my dreams of being an Olympian can finally come true. If I start practicing now sliding rocks around the backyard…perhaps by the 2022 games I can compete.

I like how the NBA all-stars game in Dallas got snow, yet the winter games in Vancouver didn’t.

You think I could rock the argyle pants the Norwegian curling team has this year?

It’s funny how there were several skiing events that were postponed due to bad weather. It’s the WINTER Olympics. Isn’t bad / inclement weather pretty much a given? I always thought they’d postpone those events when the sun comes out and melts everything…but then again, what do I know…

I wonder how professional athletes feel about wearing make-up during competition? I’m assuming more have to these days now that there’s Olympic broadcast in HD and stuff?

But seriously…good luck to all the athletes competing in the games…even the “foreigners” that NBC doesn’t like to show on TV.

superbowl thoughts...

The Who? Really? Did queen Latifah and Carrie Underwood both turn down the gig after singing to open the game? Does anyone under the age of 50 still even remember them? They might as well bring out the Monkees for a post game performance.

Ok e-trade…talking babies are a little creepy.

Enough with the roman numerals already… they got Arabic numbers on the back of the jerseys and on the scoreboard…I think it’s safe to assume that we can use the same format for the logo? All other sporting events are using the new and improved numbering system (i.e. 2009 World Series, 2009 NBA finals, etc.).

Dude NBC…even Jay Leno’s doing ads for Letterman…time to get back on the ball.

An onside kick to start off the III-rd quarter? That was ballsy…and I have to say…incredibly stupid. Yes, they got the ball and won the game so now the coach will be praised for pulling off a “brilliant” play. But seriously, why risk it when you’re only down IV pts with XXX minutes of playing time left? That’s about par with Belichick’s gamble on IVth and II.

Here’s a fact that may only interest me…since Superbowl 39 (that’s right, I’m a rebel) the team wearing the white jersey is 6-0.

And finally, congrats to the city and people of New Orleans (who I’m sure are pretty much gonna be celebrating till june). This is definitely a feel good, come from behind story (after all their season started off XIII-0…who would’ve thought?). But seriously, I’m excited for the city. First Superbowl ever and they bring home the Lombardi Trophy. That’s definitely notable. Congrats :D

Now that football season’s officially over, I can sit back and watch Villanova win its first national championship since MCMLXXXV.

j d booty

Today, in a move that pulled the spotlight from Michael Vick and placed it squarely upon himself, Brett Farve signed with the Vikings. Sudden every sports blog and beat writer is frantically typing up op-ed pieces and status reports. The one thing i'm noticing is...what about John David Booty? When Farve signed, Booty became the 4th string quarterback on a team with (realistically) room for only 3 qb's. To make matters worse for Booty, Farve jacked his number. Booty, who has been #4 since he's been with the Vikings, didn't really even have a say in the matter. Wouldn't that suck to show up to to practice one day only to find out your number has been taken...oh and you might get dropped now too. Probably not the best day that guy's had...