Folk Hero

Current Mood: impressed

TWO weeks of (almost entirely) football stuff!

Last week:

Oh wow I was so close to starting this with a string of cuss words, you have no idea.

First, the Bengals got manhandled by the Patriots. Yeah, whatever, I already wrote about how I wasn't exactly surprised by it.

Then, this weekend, the game I was totally pumped for - the Purdue/OSU game - was a bust. Okay, I went and had a great time, had pretty good seats with Future Roommates Greg and Chad, and even ended up sitting in front of fellow OSU fan Jamie. But our much touted #1-in-the-Big-Ten offense, averaging 40+ points per game, QB with about 16 TDs and only a few picks, outscoring opponents in the first half something like 100-3, 5-0 with consecutive 300+ yards of offense games - DIDN'T FUCKING SHOW UP against OSU. Now, like the Patriots in the MNF game, OSU really was favored to win. They were ranked in the top 5, we'd just barely sneaked into the top 25 at 23. It wasn't a shock or anything, and I wasn't really upset that we lost (I still want OSU to do well), but we didn't score anything - none points - until the last few minutes of the game against their second string. It was retarded. Our defense was actually trying to keep us in the game (wtf?) but kept coming up with turnovers in their redzone...not exactly the best field position, especially when Painter looked to only have about 30 yards per drive in him. The punting - a school record 12 times - was abysmal. Looked like we had some sort of punting palsy. I always feel like blaming the officials is such a "losers" comment, but there were a few calls I didn't care for. Even the halftime show was disappointing because they played to the wrong side of the field! At least our student section looked decent. Pretty much everybody wore black. Instead of being a Debbie Downer about OSU, I will really hope we beat Michigan this week because I hate them. Not only would they lose, we'd get back to the Ws (and be bowl eligible). A win-win, or "doublewin", if you will.

So I put away my fan towel and Boiler helmet and prepared for the Packers to roll over the injury ridden Bears on Sunday night. Not so. After a stunning first half (Brett had a QB rating over 130, over 150 yards of offense, a Green Bay running game that came from NOWHERE - 64 yards opening drive when the season average/game was about 50), the Packers gave up a 10 point lead slowly in the back half, like a dying animal. I mean, they were hemorrhaging plays and Brett ended up getting the all time interceptions record.

I went into this week's Monday Night Football hoping that 1 of 4 games would be a win, and that my boy Tony Romo wouldn't disappoint. The Cowboys were 4-0, were favored by everybody to stomp on the Bills, and the Cowboys D were giving up less points each week. Hell, Romo had 300+ yards in every game and only thrown 3 interceptions.

Yet, surprisingly, the Bills were nothing if not tenacious. After waiting 13 years to be on MNF, they were at the very least keeping pace with the Cowboys, at times looking like the stronger team. Romo was intercepted twice on his first two pass attempts. He would later fumble, and then be picked off Three. More. Times. The only reason I skipped the cussing at the onset of this post was because of two things:

1. Excellent (and I do mean excellent) play calling, coaching, clock management on the part of the Cowboys coaches in the last few minutes of the game

2. Mostly because of their kicker Nick Folk, who made not one but two career-length field goals in literally the last few seconds of the game.

Considering what a by-the-book blowout this was supposed to be, it was a strangely entertaining and exciting football game for Monday night, and I'm really happy Dallas came away with the win, despite Tony Romo's 5 attempts to be Brett Favre. This would set us up for an excellent matchup of the undefeated Patriots vs. the (barely) undefeated Cowboys the next week on Sunday.

Drew Brees...c'mon buddy. Give Purdue something to be proud of!

The last minute heroics even kept me from being upset over my fantasy football loss to Jenny by less than 3 points, leaving me tied for 4th with her at 2-3.

Oh, and the Yankees were forced out of the playoffs (by the Indians, for the record, but it could've been by the country of Poland, for all I care). Awesome.

This week:

Purdue lost to Michigan 48-21 in what is nicely called a blowout. Can't say I'm surprised (sounding like a trend yet?), but I'm wondering what I can do to fix this feeling. Like, can Purdue have a shitty season opener and then surprise everybody by winning their last 8 games? I'm sick of "settling" for bowl games. Yeah, 8 bowls in 9 years is nice, but I'm sick of being consistently below the top tier Big Ten teams like OSU, Michigan, Wisconsin. Fuck, even our Bucket game vs. IU is no longer looking safe. Eh, at least maybe this "crazy year of college football" (crazy in that the BCS keeps changing, and top teams keep falling in upsets) means we have a chance - heads down, work hard, and let the chips fall where they will. For my money, I still contend that Appalachian State's victory over Michigan was a greater upset than Stanford over (then) #2 USC because Stanford is at least in the same division, even if they are considered perennial floor mats in their conference (I don't care about your 40 point difference). Besides, even if Michigan lost to Oregon the week after Ap. St., they certainly turned their shit around, much to Purdue's dismay.

It feels odd that college football is about half over. And the NFL?

Bengals lost again 27-20 to the lower-middle-class Kansas City Chiefs. I try not to really put much stock in historical trends, but the Bengals have apparently been pretty good off the bye week - not that it made any fucking difference this year. T.J. had a great game (good for my fantasy team), but Carson Palmer has been intercepted twice each of his past four games. We have other receivers, but the QB needs to get it done. That, and our entire defense.

Green Bay had a slugfest with "that other indian team" (Jenny and I kept confusing the Chiefs who played the Bengals with the Redskins who went up against the Pack), coming away with a 17-14 win. Favre is officially the NFL's most intercepted QB, but that happens when you play forever, moreso as a gutsy gunslinger which I truly think he is. Key play was Woodson's interception for a TD.

THE SAINTS FINALLY WON over the Seattle Seahawks, 28-17 on Sunday night. That is such an important event that it gets an entire sentence hyperlinked. Reggie Bush was dynamite (again, yay fantasy football) and Brees showed everbody what Purdue does...well, not "best", but "acceptably", and it's about damn time, too. Seahawks didn't play so hot to be sure, but the Saints are no longer winless (something the poor Dolphins won't change against the Patriots next week - owww).

The only other game I cared to watch this weekend was the Clash of the Unbeatens - Patriots vs. Cowboys. Now, it should definitely be noted that Tony Romo was awesome and threw for only one interception, but it wasn't enough to win. Cowboys lost to who are quickly becoming the Yankees of the NFL, the Patriots, 48-27. Not much to say here...Cowboys led for a bit in the third, but Tom Brady is breaking records like "6 consecutive games with at least 3 TDs" and other stuff like that. All the Patriots at the post-press-conference act all humble and act like they have not played well, but it's pretty hard to believe them. Now I place my best hopes that they'll be defeated by things like injuries, the other two thirds of the season, and the Indianapolis Colts in a few weeks.

Wrapping things up, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this fantasy football thing. I don't want to be accused of hubris (especially against a league half filled with people who aren't really paying much attention to their teams), but I had a decisive victory this week. It was 123.6 to about 43 vs. the Zombies - I say "about" because the only player on either team playing is Eli Manning, still gaining a few meager points as he wraps up a win against the Falcons as I type on Monday Night Football. Unless Manning somehow breaks football as we know it and scores 80 fantasy points in the next 10 minutes, I've got this one wrapped up ("you gotta lock that down"). I'm now tied for 2nd place at .500 (I'm so excited to be so...mediocre? I guess .500 is bigger in football than, say, on a test), and we're about halfway through the regular fantasy season. I'm already excited for next year's draft!

Finally, as a special treat anybody who has read this far, or had the presence of mind to skip to the end for the summary, please watch this video around 1:25.