That was a great game, wasn't it? Well, I guess that's what they're saying. It was entertaining, exciting to the very last second. But one of the best? I'm not so sure. We are so quick to pass judgement, and we want everything that witness to be the greatest ever. To me, of the Super Bowls that I have followed and seen firsthand for the last ten years, nothing can come close to the Super Bowl between the Tennessee Titans and the St Louis Rams. Now THAT was a game! Literally, one yard stopped the Titans from tying the game and going into OT.
Anyway, the game started out with both teams being a bit tentative, then the Steelers put together a nice drive that looked like it ended with a TD run by Roethlisberger. But, after a challenge and review, the call was overturned because the runner's knee hit the ground before the ball crossed the goal line. The funniest part was when Al Michaels said: and Mike Holmgren is saying NOW??!! I thought that was hilarious. It hurt, but it was hilarious.
So instead the Steelers kicked a field goal. 3-0 Steelers.
Then the Steelers did really score a rushing TD. Although it was kinda funny because when the runner, Gary Russell, made it into the end zone, an Arizona defender ran him out right away, so from one camera angle I wasn't sure what was happening until the referees signaled touchdown! 10-0 Steelers.
Then it was the Cardinals' turn to answer, and they did. Warner connected with Tight End Ben Patrick for a 1 yard TD. Good catch, good hands, good throw, even though Warner tripped on his Center's foot! Talk about composure. That's what experience gets you. 10-7 Steelers.
Then what happened was amazing. The Cardinals were driving to a go-ahead TD, and it looked as though they would be able to do just that, when it happened! Knocking on the end zone doors, Warner threw a pass into the end zone, only to have James Harrison intercept the pass at the goal line and run it all the way the other way for a 100-yard interception return TD, the longest in SB history. So what did happen? The Steelers ran an all-out blitz, except that Harrison showed blitz but then dropped back and got into the passing lanes, where he was in position to make the play. Warner has always been lauded for his quick release, but that is exactly what may have led to the interception. 17-7 Steelers at the half.
The teams exchanged possessions and eventually at the end of the 3rd quarter, the Steelers kicked another field goal. The only interesting thing about this drive is that the Cardinals were tagged with 3 personal foul penalties, the third converting a made field goal on 4th down into a new set of downs after Wilson ran into the place holder. Dumb mistake. I thought that the Cardinals were beginning to unravel at that point. But the rallied and made a great comeback, below. 20-7 Steelers.
Midway through the 4th quarter, the Cardinals again were right at the doors of the end zone when Warner lobbed a pass at Larry Fitzgerald. That's what I would 10 times out of times! I don't care who is on Fitzgerald, how many defenders are on Fitzgerald, I would just call for a lob at his direction, and just sit back and watch him go up and make the catch. He is just the best at that. Madden made the point that I was contemplating myself: there is nobody better than Larry Fitzgerald at timing his jump and getting to the ball at the highest point. He has the best hands to ensure that he makes the catch and comes down with the ball. 20-14 Steelers.
After a Steelers punt, the Cardinals punted away too, but the coverage team was able to pin the ball at the Steelers 1 yard line. After it looked like the Cardinals stonewalled the Steelers in their own end zone (replays showed they didn't), it looked as if they were going to get out of that crummy field position when Holmes made a great catch for a new 1st down, but wait a minute, holding, offense, in the end zone, Safety! Two more points for the Cardinals AND they get the ball back! 20-16 Steelers.
My wife was, for whatever reason, rooting for the Cardinals. She asked me if they still had a chance, and I said: Just one pass to Fitzgerald, he breaks loose, and the Cardinals are in control. As soon as I finished this sentence, Warner hit Fitzgerald in stride up the middle for a 64-yard TD. Made me think two things. 1. It made look prophetic in front of my wife. 2. If I knew that, why didn't the Steelers defense know that too? What happened?
Well, the call was magnificent. It was exactly the most perfect call for the defense that the Steelers were showing on the field. The safeties were playing a deep Cover 2. The Conrnerbacks were playing man-to-man, and the Linebackers, and this is the most important part of the formation, were crowding the line of scrimmage, playing close to line, which meant that the middle of the field was essentially empty. Here's how the play progressed. At the snap, all receivers, except Fitzgerald, ran an out route, they ran a few yards up the field and turned towards the sidelines. The Cornerbacks playing them man-to-man turned out with them. the Safeties bit and each one took an angle towards the sidelines as well. Except Fitzgerald. He ran towards the middle, went by his defender, and Warner hit him in stride dropping the ball behind the Cornerback. All Fitzgerald had to do was make the catch and run up the empty middle towards the end zone before the Cornerback and Safeties, who had by then realized the colossal mistake they had made and turned to try and catch him. Done and done! Great, great call! 23-20 Cardinals, their first lead, with 2:37 left.
However, in Football terms, that's a helluva lot of time for an offense! And, as it turned out, truer words were never spoken! The Steelers started at their own 22, and a holding penalty moved them back to their own 12. But, a series of short passes and short runs were punctuated by a 40-yard reception by Santonio Holmes, a total busted coverage on the Cardinals' behalf. That set up the Steelers at the Arizona 6 yard line, one shoe to the left of the end zone didn't work, so run the same play, same personnel, same receiver, tot the other side. Perfect throw, great catch, two feet down, Touchdown Pittsburgh! 27-23 Steelers. 35 seconds remaining.
Warner then made a couple of nice plays to move the Cardinals up the field, but the very last play for Arizona was a fumble. And yes, they could've reviewed it, and maybe they should've reviewed it, but I don't think it mattered. It looked to me like it was a fumble, and the Steelers recovered the loose ball. Victory formation, kneel down, ball game! Steelers the 6th Super Bowl in franchise history, a record.
So, all in all, a pretty entertaining game, through and through, and Santonio Holmes was named the MVP. But one of the best ever? Drop the hype already.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Super Bowl Madness
So, all hyped up? Not me!
Yes, it's the Super Bowl and all, but I'm just not too excited about it. I was trying to latch onto all the stories that came out in the media for the last couple of weeks, but, nothing. I guess if I have to dig real hard, I am very impressed by Larry Fitzgerald. He seems to be a throwback, a player's player, as they say. He seems to have the team's best interest in mind, even claiming that he is willing to change his contract if that means the Cardinals can keep free agent-to-be WR Anquan Boldin. The cynic in me says: OK, thanks Larry, even though the Cardinals don't need that offer from you, since they will be $40 million under the cap next year! But, I think his offer is genuine, which is refreshing in a me-first sports culture these days (which is why College sports is WAY better than the professional type).
So, I guess that kind of drew me in, but not too much to get me excited about the game itself.
I don't really understand the notion that I HAVE to root for a team. I cannot root for either team, for understandable reasons (which I listed in an earlier post below). I am going to watch the game, not really caring who ends up winning. That's just how I feel right now. Maybe closer to the game, or during the game, something happens and I start to pull for one team, like a dirty hit or some egregious officiating (*ahem* I'm looking at you SB XL). But, right now, nothing!
Anyway, the game is on Sunday at 3:28pm PST (why :28 beats the hell out of me!). NBC's coverage starts, well, now, I guess!
Enjoy!
And Go Seahawks!
Yes, it's the Super Bowl and all, but I'm just not too excited about it. I was trying to latch onto all the stories that came out in the media for the last couple of weeks, but, nothing. I guess if I have to dig real hard, I am very impressed by Larry Fitzgerald. He seems to be a throwback, a player's player, as they say. He seems to have the team's best interest in mind, even claiming that he is willing to change his contract if that means the Cardinals can keep free agent-to-be WR Anquan Boldin. The cynic in me says: OK, thanks Larry, even though the Cardinals don't need that offer from you, since they will be $40 million under the cap next year! But, I think his offer is genuine, which is refreshing in a me-first sports culture these days (which is why College sports is WAY better than the professional type).
So, I guess that kind of drew me in, but not too much to get me excited about the game itself.
I don't really understand the notion that I HAVE to root for a team. I cannot root for either team, for understandable reasons (which I listed in an earlier post below). I am going to watch the game, not really caring who ends up winning. That's just how I feel right now. Maybe closer to the game, or during the game, something happens and I start to pull for one team, like a dirty hit or some egregious officiating (*ahem* I'm looking at you SB XL). But, right now, nothing!
Anyway, the game is on Sunday at 3:28pm PST (why :28 beats the hell out of me!). NBC's coverage starts, well, now, I guess!
Enjoy!
And Go Seahawks!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Paul Krugman
I had the privilege of going to a Q&A session with Paul Krugman who is a well known economist, s Nobel laureate and a syndicated columnist for the New York Times. Ten years ago he wrote a book called Depression Economics, that he has since updated and republished, predicting the current financial mess that we're in.
It was an informative session, with good questions being asked, and some good insight given throughout. The main thing that he was advocating was to increase the stimulus that the Obama administration is pushing through Congress, to at least 1.2 trillion dollars, claiming that what is needed is a full out remedy to fix these issues with the economy, rather than a half-hearted one. He said he's not "panicky" but is rather "uneasy."
I'm not sure if I agree with that. If anything, I am all for having the "free market" run its course, and have bad assets liquidated, which would give an opportunity to new entrepreneurs to come in and take a look at the market and perhaps eventually build new companies from those opportunities. Professor Krugman didn't agree with that, though. Spending is the way out of this mess, he says, and if there is no private spending, then the government should do that.
Professor Krugman was entertaining though. He had a couple of nice stories and some quips. Good wit, and very engaging. A nice close to the Q&A was a member of the audience asking him where his money is these days, and he answered "lots of cash," which was met with some laughter. But then the audience member came back and asked, "what currency?" And that brought the house down!
Like I said, interesting dialogue, and a very good event.
It was an informative session, with good questions being asked, and some good insight given throughout. The main thing that he was advocating was to increase the stimulus that the Obama administration is pushing through Congress, to at least 1.2 trillion dollars, claiming that what is needed is a full out remedy to fix these issues with the economy, rather than a half-hearted one. He said he's not "panicky" but is rather "uneasy."
I'm not sure if I agree with that. If anything, I am all for having the "free market" run its course, and have bad assets liquidated, which would give an opportunity to new entrepreneurs to come in and take a look at the market and perhaps eventually build new companies from those opportunities. Professor Krugman didn't agree with that, though. Spending is the way out of this mess, he says, and if there is no private spending, then the government should do that.
Professor Krugman was entertaining though. He had a couple of nice stories and some quips. Good wit, and very engaging. A nice close to the Q&A was a member of the audience asking him where his money is these days, and he answered "lots of cash," which was met with some laughter. But then the audience member came back and asked, "what currency?" And that brought the house down!
Like I said, interesting dialogue, and a very good event.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is upon us.
The two teams to meet in SB XLIII are the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers. I can absolutely say: meh.
I cannot root for either team. The Steelers stole away the Lombardi Trophy from my beloved Seahawks in SB XL, with the help of the NFL and the referees.
The Arizona Cardinals are division rivals. I cannot even imagine rooting for them. When the Yankees fans start rooting for the Red Sox, because, you know, they are in the same division, then I’ll start rooting for the Cardinals.
I’ll be watching, it is the Super Bowl, after all. Hope the ads are entertaining!
The two teams to meet in SB XLIII are the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers. I can absolutely say: meh.
I cannot root for either team. The Steelers stole away the Lombardi Trophy from my beloved Seahawks in SB XL, with the help of the NFL and the referees.
The Arizona Cardinals are division rivals. I cannot even imagine rooting for them. When the Yankees fans start rooting for the Red Sox, because, you know, they are in the same division, then I’ll start rooting for the Cardinals.
I’ll be watching, it is the Super Bowl, after all. Hope the ads are entertaining!
Friday, January 09, 2009
Monday, December 15, 2008
Monday, December 08, 2008
Just follow me on this, OK?
History will prove that George W. Bush is one of the most environmentally-friendly presidents ever.
How?
Now I'm not talking about his actual environmental policies, Lord knows he favors industry and even drilling and lower EPA guidelines around national parks. No. I'm talking about his economic policies! Here's how it goes:
How?
Now I'm not talking about his actual environmental policies, Lord knows he favors industry and even drilling and lower EPA guidelines around national parks. No. I'm talking about his economic policies! Here's how it goes:
- Bush favors pretty much no regulation whatsoever. Whatever the industry is. He's a real free-market kind of guy, letting the market do pretty much whatever it damn well pleases.
- As a result, lenders started letting people buy houses using this whole subprime mortgage deal, where the consumers bought houses that they obviously could not afford, that they simply had no business buying in the first place, by paying lower monthly mortgage payments. Of course, all along, lenders did almost no credit checks on those buyers. Why would they? Greed and the quick buck make you do stupid things.
- Little did those people know, that after a very short time, their interest rates would skyrocket, because that's how those subprime mortgages worked. They were adjustable after a short period of time, and not fixed over a long period of time. Besides, just like in the above point, they could not afford those houses in the first place.
- Lenders started packaging those subprime mortgages and selling them to banks as assets. Banks being greedy enough to buy them because they believed they would make a killing off of those mortgages when the interest rates rose.
- Here what they didn't think of, that people could no longer pay off the mortgages on those houses that they bought. The monthly payments skyrocketed. People started losing their houses. Banks started to foreclose on those same houses.
- Then all hell broke loose! The housing market crashed because there weren't enough buyers, and the market was saturated from all those foreclosed homes. The credit market crashed, because now lenders were starting to lose money because of all the foreclosures and loan defaults. Then Wall Street started its downward spiral because of the housing and credit market crises.
- What happened then was that the economy began its faceplant. People weren't spending their money because they were afraid they were going to get laid off and lose their jobs. Manufacturers and service providers started to lose money because there was no spending. Companies did start laying off thousands of workers. Household budgets got even tighter and tighter. Unemployment rose to their lowest marks in decades. It was chaos everywhere.
- So, as all this was happening, industry began to slow down, since demand was really, really down. With the industry slowing down, a lot of plants started to shut down.
- And since a lot of those plants were anyway in China and India, and since most of the pollution cam from countries like China and India where there are no environmental regulations to contend with, pollution should start easing up.
Here's what should happen next: more and more plants would shut down, in places like China and India and Taiwan and Mexico and so on. Pollution rates would start to decrease. The environment would start to recover, Global Warming would start to reverse course, the Ozone layer would start to patch itself up, and life on planet Earth would become more abundant, and Human Beings healthier, in the long run.
Ah, if only things were that simple!
So, Bush should get a couple of awards and maybe even a Nobel prize for what he did to the environment, because of his economic plans!
Don't you think?
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
3 things I was thinking while watching TV last night..
1. "How I Met Your Mother" on CBS is a very funny show, and one of my favorite shows, hands down. But, last night's episode was creepy from the fact that the whole show is supposed to be the main character, Ted, telling his kids in the year 2053 about how he met their mother, yet last night's episode was all about the "naked man" technique for sleeping with women! Is that what people talk to their children about in the year 2053?
2. "Worst Week" on CBS is one of the funniest new comedies I've seen in a long, long time! My wife and I were cracking up last night. Seriously, how DO you set a pool on fire? LOL
3. As fantastically illogical and unbelievable the story behind "Chuck" on NBC is, I can't help but fall in love with that show more and more! I can't remember a show that makes me roll my eyes more than "Chuck," yet I find myself looking forward to watching each new episode!
Feedback?
2. "Worst Week" on CBS is one of the funniest new comedies I've seen in a long, long time! My wife and I were cracking up last night. Seriously, how DO you set a pool on fire? LOL
3. As fantastically illogical and unbelievable the story behind "Chuck" on NBC is, I can't help but fall in love with that show more and more! I can't remember a show that makes me roll my eyes more than "Chuck," yet I find myself looking forward to watching each new episode!
Feedback?
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