Start of the Season

I have finally made it back to blogging! My two weeks in Napa turned into...let me see...going on seven now. I have been commuting 4 hours a day and have been obligated to get up at 5:30 am, which unless you are a bird, is utterly ridiculous.
I have been busy. But not too busy to miss the beginning of the new football season. Since we still don't have TV, I have only seen a smattering of games, but I thought I'd recap my thoughts on week 1.

I saw the season opener between the Saints and the Vikings. I have friends who are fans of both teams, but since the Vikes are in our division and a long standing (but not as long as the Bears) rival, I cheered on New Orleans, and was happy to see them win. I thought it was pretty weird the Favre ran the ball so much. I wonder if that was his decision or Brad Childress? There is no love lost between the two of them, and it still appears undecided as to who the "boss" is in Minneapolis. Remember last year when Favre was talking to a reporter who had a cold, and he told him to go give Childress a hug? It was hilarious, but you could feel the jab.

Anyway, then I caught the tail end of the Lions/ Chicago game. OMG! It was so exciting, and I was sure that Calvin Johnson got that touchdown! It was one of those classic football moments...only it didn't count because of some stupid rule that the NFL came up with. I'd hate to go through the tapes of the greatest football moments of all time and see how many of them would have been taken back because of this bizzare and absurd rule. I saw on ESPN they took a poll and asked people to text in as to whether or not Johnson should have gotten the touchdown. Every state, including Illinois, replied with a resounding "yes". I absolutely agree. If you pushed me, I'd almost go so far as to say I think all "instant replays" should be removed from the game.

Onto the Packers game. Well, I am glad we won. The defense didn't disappoint, and I am glad to see the carry over from last year. But as Rodgers said in his post game interview, he played terrible. I'm not trying to criticize, but it's the truth of the matter. Watching his first few pass attempts made me feel like my feeble tries to toss the ball around the yard aren't as bad as I thought. The high point was Crosby making a 56 yard field goal. I was happy for him. It's not that often that kickers really get to shine, and I think everyone was pretty amazed. Ryan Grant leaving the game was bad news, but luckily I think Jackson is good enough to fill in without dropping expectations.

Other than that I caught a couple minutes of both Monday night games (but I had to go into the office). My brief takes are that I am glad Baltimore won because the Jets (and their HBO show) were super cocky and obnoxious. While it's true I really don't like Ray Lewis (no idea why, I have just always had a really bad vibe about him) Joe Flacco is OK and anyone is better than the Jets. As for the Chargers/ Kansas City game, I can't believe KC won, but in a way it was cool. Matt Cassel has got to be one of the most shafted NFL players in the league (right up there with McNabb). He did a great job in New England when Brady was out, and then the Patriots just dumped him off to the Chiefs as soon as Brady was better. LAME,

OK, well that's enough about football... Until Sunday....Wa ha ha:)