The Gunslinger and NFL Strike Again

The NFC Championship Game has just concluded.  I really didn’t care who won this game – but as the game was concluding in overtime, two long-standing truths about professional football showed up in this game.  First, Brett Favre (The Gunslinger) will always break your heart if he is the QB for your team.  Number two, the NFL’s format for overtime Sucks!

I am totally convinced that Brett Favre, no matter how much he tries, will be destined to throw an interception as his last official pass in the NFL.  During his last game as a Packer two season’s ago in the NFC Championship Game, he threw a horrible pass for an interception when he was attempting to bring his team back in the last minutes, and he did it again tonight for the Vikings.  The biggest difference tonight is that he didn’t have to throw the pass.  The Vikings were in control.  They were tied with the Saints, had the ball in Saints territory, and only needed a short gain to kick a game winning field goal.  The Offensive Coordinator drew up a great play that had The Gunslinger roll-out to the right with the option to run or pass.  This was a brilliant play call.  The Saints were not expecting it.  The Gunslinger has not been known for scrambling for a long time, and had actually been injured in the 3rd quarter, so the Saints were not even looking for this play call.  As the play was happening, Favre had open field to run.  But once a Gunslinger, always a Gunslinger.  Throughout his career he has made incredible passes in impossible situations – but he also makes stupid decisions at inappropriate times. 

His last pass tonight – and perhaps the last of his Hall of Fame career – is one of the stupid variety.  Instead of taking the 5-10 yards his feet would have gotten him, the Gunslinger decided to go for the improbably – and turned the ball over by throwing a bad pass into the middle of the field with only seven seconds left in the game.

The good news was, they were still tied and were heading to overtime.  But this is where the NFL has their turn at playing Scrooge.  The NFL plays a sudden death overtime with the first team to score winning the game.  Since it is possible – and happens more than you would think – that the team receiving the kickoff in overtime never gives up the ball, scores, and wins the game - it puts a premium on winning the coin flip.  Ridiculous!

This overtime rule is stupid during regular season games – but to decide which team goes to the Super Bowl is a travesty.  Tonight’s game was an instant classic.  Both teams threw everything they had at each other.  It was a back and forth game with each team answering the other team’s punches.  Never was the lead greater than seven points.  So for the Saints to win the toss of the coin, take the ball down the field for five minutes, kick a 40 yard field goal, and get to go to the Super Bowl without giving the Vikings a chance to respond makes no sense.  It never will make sense, and I will never understand why this is the design the NFL has chosen.

The Saints are a great story.  They deserve congratulations for going to their first Super Bowl.  I just fear this game will be remembered more for another sad ending by The Gunslinger.  There will also be a lot of talk about the overtime format of the NFL.  While Favre will probably never get his chance again, perhaps the NFL will find an opportunity to improve their game for the future.

Eagles = Groundhogs Day

Yesterday evening the Eagles laid a big egg and got dominated by the Dallas Cowboys 34-14.  This loss eliminates them from the playoffs and came six days after the season’s last game which saw the Cowboys win 24-0.  Given the way last week’s game went, it was no surprise the Cowboys dominated last night.  What is also not a surprise is that the Eagles, despite seemingly playing very well the last half of the season, came up very short in the playoffs.  See, they have done this every other time they have made the playoffs in the Andy Reid / Donovan McNabb era.

Over the past decade, the Eagles almost established themselves as the dominate NFC team for the decade, making it to five NFC Championship Games.  Not once in those five games did they play the same team twice.  Three of those games, the Eagles were the favorite.  In all but one of those games, the Eagles did not play up to potential and exited the playoffs.  In the one year where they did manage to win and make it to the Super Bowl, they lost to the New England Patriots – but like most of the NFC Championship losses, they came up small and really could have won the game.

So last night’s loss really isn’t a surprise – it falls under the category of “More of the Same.”  Most Philadelphia Eagles fans have come to expect it – we are conditioned to expect it.  The only people surprised by the results is the Eagles front office.  Despite team President Joe Banner’s comments this past summer that you can’t continue to do the same thing and expect different results, they continue to do the same thing.  Going into this season, there was talk that this could be Donovan McNabb’s last season, and Andy Reid was nearing the end of his contract.  But after a late season 3-game winning streak, Reid was rewarded with a 3-year extension and if you believe comments over the past couple of weeks, Donovan McNabb is the starting QB next season.

So it begs the question – “What will be different next year?”

Over the next few days and weeks, you will hear the Eagles and other “experts” tell you how the Eagles are a young team, they are still learning, we never really should have expected much this year – as well as other such nonsense.  It is all nonsense because the Cowboys are younger, had less experience, and had about the same degree of expectations as the Eagles. 

So why is it the Cowboys are able to excel and the Eagles are left to wonder what happened?  And why, should we expect anything different from the 2010 season with Reid, McNabb, and others trying to win using the same approach?

Here is what I know.  The Cowboys swagger is back.  They are confident, they are young, and they are damn good.  It reminds me of the late 1980′s and early 90′s when the Eagles had some very good teams but could never capitalize on it.  During that time the Cowboys struggled – but they went through a rebuilding effort and eventually won three Super Bowls with young talent including QB Troy Aikman. 

Fast Forward to 2010.  The Eagles have basically dominated the NFC East for the past 10 years – but the Cowboys now have a good QB who has confidence and some great young supporting talent.  I believe last night’s game was much more than a single game – it was the passing of the torch.  Within the next few years, the Cowboys will win a Super Bowl and the Eagles will be left to wonder what happened.

Groundhogs day all over again.

The Week After

It has been nearly a full week since the Christmas / New Year’s holidays concluded.  Of course this meant the kids had to go back to school and my wife and I had to go back to work.  As we have done the past couple of years, we took the week off between Christmas Eve and the day after New Years Day.  This year, with New Years falling on a Friday, that meant we got another full weekend to enjoy before returning to “normal life.”

I have come to really look forward to, and enjoy this time off.  It is a nice way to end the year.  It is especially nice because I find the actual holiday days so stressful, so it is important to have the other days to settle down a bit and relax.  What has become frustrating is the feelings I have the day or two before having to go back.  It doesn’t seem to matter how much time I take off, I never seem fully “ready” to get back to work.  The result is, I stop relaxing a full 48 hours earlier than I have too because I am thinking about how unready (is that a word?) I am to return to “normal life.”

Does anyone else have this experience?

Why does this happen?

It is not that I don’t like my job – but it does seem that it takes the better part of the first week before I am beginning to feel engaged again.  I understand it more this year than in past year.  This is because I had a To Do List that was very long during this past break.  Much to my surprise, as well as those who know me well, I managed to knock out about 80% of my list.  I kept myself very busy throughout the 11-day break.  For really the first time in my life, I decided I could keep myself pretty busy in retirement. During past breaks, I have often become “bored” at some point.  But despite those feelings of boredom, I still experience the same “start-up” challenges when I return to work.

So I ask again – why does that happen?  I would love to find a way to prevent these feelings in the future.  Anyone that has any great ideas, please post them in the comment area of this blog post. 

Besides just getting some suggestions on how to work around these sluggish feelings, I think I am just really trying to find comfort in knowing that others experience the same feelings I do.  I really desperate attempt to feel like I belong – I’ll admit it!

Holiday Decoration’s Right to Life

As we move away from New Year’s Day and head back into the normal grind of work and school, it is time to take down the decorations from the holidays.  My wife is a big fan of the holidays, and demonstrates this via the decorations around the house.  While she has many decorations for all of the seasons and holidays throughout the year, by far Christmas is the holiday she loves more than any other.  We have four large boxes of decorations and many smaller ones.  We even have several larger decorations that have their own box and just live on the storage shelves in the basement during the non-holiday portion of the year.

Growing up, my mother would put out her fair share of decorations, but nothing to the degree that my wife does – so this has truly been a unique experience for me during our marriage.  While I know my wife is not fanatical like others, she does OK.  We are at a point where we could decorate three trees.  We haven’t gotten there yet – stopping at two trees the past few years, but we have acquired a third tree from my parents – so we will probably get there in 2010.  In addition to the tree decorations, nearly every table top throughout the house gets a few well placed ornaments / decorations.

Currently as I type this my wife is busy putting the decorations away.  She carefully matches each item up with the original packaging it came in, and then places it in the proper spot in one of the larger boxes.  This process began for about two hours last night and will occupy much of her time today. 

I know many of you are probably thinking, why doesn’t he stop blogging and go help her?  I would, but you have to understand one key fact.  She doesn’t want my help.  My role is simply to carry the full boxes back down to the basement and place them on the storage shelf.  She figures it is the only de-decorating job I can do without messing something up.  And she is probably right.  See, when I was a kid, the majority of our tree decorations were hand-made things with the occasional purchased ornaments.  These ornaments were kept in a brown paper bag you carried your groceries home in from the store.  So when it was time to take down the tree, we would quickly pull off the ornaments and toss them in the bag.  There was no special boxes, tissue paper, foam protection, or anything of the like. 

Didn’t this mean that some ornaments were damaged or broken?  Of course, but in my mind, that was the way to control the over population of holiday decorations / ornaments.  I figured it is acceptable to lose 5% of your supply each year – especially, if like my wife, you are purchasing or making (children school and scouting crafts) new ornaments each year. 

So this is where my wife and I part company in our beliefs.  She believes that every ornament is a special ornament and is protected to the fullest extent possible.  I have called this the Ornament Right to Life Model.  I prescribe to a Darwinian Model of Ornaments that the strongest shall survive.  Unfortunately, my model is not permitted the opportunity to be practiced or tested in my house.  In the past when I have attempted to help, comments have been made that clearly indicate that my assistance is neither needed nor valued.  Basically, my wife has not issued to me a decorating or de-decorating license.  My sole purpose is to put up the tree, make sure the lights work and are strung, and then get out-of-the-way - except for the occasional lifting and moving of heavy boxes.

So, during this time of holiday clean-up, I will be looking for other things to occupy my time.  Anyone know what time the football games are today?