Monday, February 04, 2008

Bust out the champagne -or- You got no fear of the underdog, that's why you will not survive

I just made it back to Cedar Rapids after a pretty intense drive from Davenport. I went to D-port to watch a football game with my dad, and while I was there, a blizzard sprung up and dumped about 6 inches of snow, 8 inches in Iowa City. So, I thought it'd be best if I stayed the night and left early enough the next morning to miss freezing rain that was supposed to come today. As luck would have it, I left just in time to be driving through the worst of it. Nothing like going 30 on the interstate during a thunderstorm, lightning and all, with rain, sleet, and snow falling concurrently. Falling very hard. Add in semis passing, doing about 70 and throwing even more shit onto the windshield, and you have an adventure. I understand that they're getting paid to get stuff to its destination on time, but when there's a nasty-ass storm, and EVERY CAR ON THE ROAD is going about 40 mph below the posted limit, I think you gotta be a little more mindful of others. Then there are the SUV drivers that think their vehicles can ignore the road conditions. It's strange how those types of vehicles were the ones I most frequently saw in the ditch (I counted around 34 cars in ditches. Although I gave 2 pointsfor a semi I saw, and another 2 points for watching an SUV that had just passed me go in). I made it, though, for all the troubles my car has given me, it's never had any problems in the

As some of you may have heard, there was a little bit of a football game last night. I may go as far as to say it was one of the greatest NFL games I've ever seen that didn't involve the 49ers (the All-Time #1 football game of any level for me is still, and always will be, Iowa's 30-25 victory over LSU in the 2005 Outback Bowl). The only way it would have been better is if I actually liked the Giants. But, my dislike of the Patriots was enough to overcome that.

It was a defensive game, I loved seeing Tom "There's no Way We're Scoring Less Than 17 Points" Brady getting leveled time and time again, and then missing wide open receivers. But, what I liked even more was watching former ISU Cyclone defensive back Ellis Hobbs getting absolutely torched on the game-winning touchdown by a Big-10 player, Plaxico Burress, who had made a prediction that the Giants would win 23-17. Brady had laughed at that, saying that he wasn't giving the Patriots enough credit, that he should've said something like 45-42. Look who's laughing now! (I've always liked Plax, from when he basically single-handedly beat Florida in the Citrus Bowl, then I got him on my fantasy team his rookie season). Plus, it was great to see Eli Manning outplay Brady. His play on 3rd and 5 on the last drive will go down as one of the biggest plays in NFL history, and will probably have its own nickname (like The Immaculate Reception, The Catch, The Catch II, The Music City Miracle, and 4th and 26, to name a few). Maybe The Escape. That's what I'm going to push for. If you missed it, turn to ESPN any time this week, you'll probably see the play within 45 seconds.

I'm sorry Charczuk, I know this is all probably pretty painful for you. I wouldn't really know, since my team has never lost in a Super Bowl. And the year they went 18-1, they won the Super Bowl. I did think it was hilarious that in ESPN's crawl across the bottom of the screen, it said something like "Patriots - 3rd team in NFL history to finish 18-1 (49ers 1984, Bears 1985)." I wish it would've said something like "49ers and Bears both won the Super Bowl." Last night just proved my thinking that this year's Patriots weren't the best team in NFL history. I still give that to either of the other 18-1 teams, but I would say the 9ers team was the best. They lost one game (by 3) and DESTROYED the Dolphins in the Super Bowl. Plus, they had the real best-QB and best-WR ever, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.

One last quick thing, my interview went well this past week, I'll find out in the coming weeks if I'm hired or not. I'm excited about things, I even thought of a good metaphor using the Giants' season this year, but I'll save that for the next post. Until then, stay safe in this winter weather Midwesterners! And hey, why not everyone else stay safe, too!

7 comments:

Hannita said...

But really, who names their kid Plaxico? That's what I wondered when I first heard his name last night.

I'm a little sad for the Pats. I wanted them to have a perfect season. And I wanted my brother to be happy.

charczuk said...

I agree with everything you said except for poor Hobbsy. Yeah, he did get torched, but who puts your number two cornerback on a top 10 NFL receiver, man-to-man, in that situation? If they throw, it's going to be to the sidelines or the endzone with no time outs and little time left. They are going to look at Plaxico first (btw, I agree Hannita)...maybe a little help? I think that the only corners that would have stopped that play, man-to-man, would have to be in the NFL top-5. Advantage is always on the receiver in that situation...I think it was the only play that Hobbs played poorly in the entire game (that long catch by Toomer was post-hands-to-the-face, offensive interference, of Hobbsy), and I blame that on Burress having more talent and being a foot taller... At least he got the last two picks of Eli's 2007 year...

The Manning play was amazing. The catch was even better! I like dubbing it 'the escape.' Osi and Tuck were beasts. When did Mitchell learn to play football? Certainly not in a Kansas City Chiefs uniform...

If you'll note, I only made reference to the Patriots (wanting to watch Hobbs play) on my blog the last two weeks for fear of jinxing them. Which probably makes me the only Pats fan that thought there was a chance for them to lose. I even placed that as #1 on the two points about what the media isn't covering going into the playoffs! (Feel free to read my blog fellow Flenker readers...)

::sigh:: What can I say? Giants kicked ass, Pats o-line sucked, Brady looked like Peyton Manning getting mad at his teammates when things went wrong...and, finally, we all know Belichick's a bit of a douche, but seriously...talk about unsportsmanly...it's like taking a page out of the Chargers Guide To Losing...

Maybe I'll have to change my mind about that job reference...=)

Hope Jimbo had a good birthday.

Captain Crab said...

F-Man:

I too was a happy football fan last night. The Giants were not to be denied!

While I agree that the 1984 49ers were pretty damn good, I'll take the 1985 Bears any day. Not only did they revenge the 23-0 loss from the playoffs the year before, they beat the 49ers in San Francisco 26-10. They then went on to shellack the Pats in the Super Bowl 46-10.

Captain Crab said...

And, the Bears had Hawkeyes Mark Bortz and Jay Hillgenberg.

Flenker said...

hannita - It's definitely an unusual name. I can't agree with you on being upset about the Patriots, though. :)

charczuk - yeah, Hobbs didn't really have too much of a chance there at the end, that was just a great move by a receiver who's climbing the charts and improving every year. Although, the pick that Hobbs got was a gift!

cap'n - yeah, I know they beat the Niners that year. . . Thanks for bringing that up! I think it's a toss-up between those two. The Iowa connection does help out the Bears, though. I had almost forgotten that. How could I forget Jay Hilgenberg?!?!

Whiskeymarie said...

All I am qualified to comment on from this post is that I have been in Davenport, Iowa.
And...that's it.

Good luck on the job!

charczuk said...

Yeah, both of his picks on Eli this year were gifts, but he always seems to be in the right place at the right time...Chris Drury or Phil Esposito-esque(?) if you will...

I'm out of my element with all this football talk: Lord Stanley's Cup is back on the menu!