Errr, ummm, what just happened? I know, Notre Dame football blew this year, so I've been a hater when things have come to Patriot's football. But wha??? TNY Giants win Superbowl XLII in a score of 17-14 over the New England Patriots. Quarterback Eli Manning was the game’s MVP but it was the Giant’s defense that really secured the win. Ughhh. I never win (and I didn't even get to do a keg stand at MW's Super Bowl partayyy).
Well, Notre Dame isn't in a college football bowl game this year. Oh well. I've already suffered enough heartburn and heartache over it, not to mention being completely traumatized by the Fiesta Bowl. Instead of being completely bitter, though, I'm throwing all my support back to my Big East roots and rootin' the Mountaineers, big time!
Go Mountaineers! Beat Sooners!
An agent through which vital powers are exercised.
Fall is finally becoming fall in Boston, in November. Crisp and cool, just the way November should be. I always thought that this type of fall weather lends itself to the nostalgia that replays inside my mind and supports the frustrated writer that lingers inside of me. That's what I thought about when I was walking up Walker Street after I got off the bus this evening. I was thinking about how much I really love my street, and how cool but strikingly red the fireball glowed from the utility pole at the top of my street, and how much I really loved what I do--even though I bitch and complain about it at times. It's that new slug of a slog that I have to fight out and figure out. I could quit. But I love the playing field.
Beneath that fireball, though, I bumped upon Todd and Meg's U-Haul. Todd and Dan were in it, amid all of the Todd and Meg's life that was getting squeezed into a 17-foot U-Haul. Now, I always get really funny with change, especially moving. I play things off like I'll see someone tomorrow. I try to keep things "normal." I laugh a bit and [/MESSAGE CLIPPED/]
So the Colts play the Pats tonight, and I'm hauling ass trying to get as much work done as possible so that I can at least do stuff in front of the television (and with some warm apple pie, courtesy of party animal, e-co, and e-co's new love) so that I can actually get to watch some of the game (unlike the notre dame game yesterday--where I was being really lame and watched on ESPN gamecast).
The Colts and the Pats just bring a smile to my face. Everyone knows that I'm all about College Football. I could really give two shits about NFL ball. Most of the time, if I had to chose between being locked in the library at school and watching pro ball, I'd willingly go to the library... and stay there. But the Colts and the Pats. Maybe all the "spiteful hating" that I've learned to love to do has brought me to love watching this match-up for the sheer comedy because it's so, well, drama-filled (as I MTV-ize pro ball).
Take Peyton. It's always a ton of fun watching him squirm like a kid in junior high. So whiney. So much like Rudy when he was playing football on the lot. I just love laughing at him, and actually, I'd really love it if CMart could come up from DC and watch with me so that we could hate on together.
There's tons more to hate on, but I'm feeling like a bad broken record. Let's go for the Adam Vinatieri roll call today, because he's the reason I'm actually blogging right now instead of drafting pleadings. And note, out of my need for nostalgia, this is brought to you by Papa Gino's...
"It's good!" ... I actually passed the Massachusetts Bar, thanks to the likes of the brain trust, multi-colored flashcards, the loverly staff at BarBri (especially Paula), Professor Judge and Dean Keenan (for helping me call two questions on the essay portion), Robert Feinburg, Esq., my mom and dad, and friends and lovers and fwbs, and viewers like you. You can find evidence of my passage here.
"It's good!" ... I've donated more of my income since September to charitable purposes than I have to any other combined personal cause. Thank you Microsoft Money for auditing my checkbook. But with charity comes love. That's why I'm hanging the autographed Snow Ball picture of Adam Vinatieri that I won in an auction at Best of Charlestown in my office at work.
"It's good!" ... because I really could use some Papa Gino's pizza right now, but let's face it, the Triple Play and Adam Vinatieri's pizza deal last year were better than Teddy Bruschi's ...
"It's good!" ... ok, enough. I've stopped laughing enough now. But I do have to announce, my son, Neal, will become a kicker as well. I couldn't have him be a pouty bitch like the other QBs in my life, could I?
Ok, this needs to stop. Now.
I really love Notre Dame. That should not be in dispute here.
But I did think, for my love of the game, how extremely awesome it would be if Rutgers could pull some BCS shiat off. Come on, think about it. It's a perfect Cinderella story. So I copy from ESPN.com, a bit of Craig James and all, love ND, NB, JR, and other Charlestown guys who have made it to 46556 from 02129.
Give me a show of hands from all those who would love to see Rutgers go undefeated and play for the national championship?
I've got my hand up. What a story it would be.
College football is on a monster run in popularity, and this would be nothing but jet fuel on the already hot fire.
Why? Because tons of casual fans, not to mention serious college football fans, would be pulling for the mighty underdog Rutgers to pull off the unthinkable. One of the original college powerhouses would have made a monster stride to compete with the big boys of college football.
The Scarlet Knights are 7-0 and have these remaining games:
Sunday vs. Connecticut (ESPN, 8 ET): Rutgers will win this one with defense.
Nov. 9 vs. Louisville: An emotional and physical challenge for the Knights, but I think they can do it. The Cardinals are good and physical, but I think Rutgers has the power to stay with them. Not many out there realize how hard Rutgers' defense plays. We all know about the running game and Ray Rice. Rice wouldn't be doing what he's doing without a physical offensive line and blockers in front of him. It's a home game unlike any they've seen on campus in a loooong time.
Nov. 18 at Cincinnati: Should win here, too.
Nov. 25 vs. Syracuse: Again, at home and a better team than the Orange.
Dec. 2 at West Virginia: Gulp. Here's where Cinderella's slipper either stays on or gets blown right off. For those of us who've been to a game at WVU, well, it ain't a place for the weak-hearted. Rutgers will have to force turnovers, win the time of possession and get just plain old-fashioned lucky here.
Bottom line: Louisville and West Virginia are going to be tough opponents. But those two have been so focused on each other that perhaps Rutgers can slip past them.
Especially the Cardinals, who will play host to the Mountaineers next Thursday in a much-hyped game.
I wouldn't be presenting this scenario if Rutgers had bad breath. Umm, some of you will know what I'm talking about. Rutgers isn't a team with warts on the nose, droopy jeans or many other nasty traits.
Rutgers is a good, solid and well-coached team.
So there you have it. Rutgers taking on Ohio State for the national championship. What the heck, crazier things have happened in this sport. Or have they?
Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State: still the man of the best team in the country. It seems as if Smith keeps getting better. I've said for a few weeks now that he's a QB now and not just an athlete. Smith's starting to look like a future Sunday QB, too.
Ray Rice, RB, Rutgers: Cinderella team led by this young man. The charging runner has 12 TDs and is an inspiration to his teammates, too.
Steve Slaton, RB, West Virginia: Big national TV platform coming up against Louisville. Slaton's really fast and the offense is balanced.
In a nutshell, it has been a long time since the Heisman race has been so lackluster. There aren't many voters out there who aren't thinking about Smith as the guy. Rice has a shot if he can get to 2,000 yards and Rutgers goes undefeated. Of course, something really strange would have to happen for Smith to fall off the perch.
Then again, Rutgers staying unbeaten would qualify in the really strange department.
Craig James is a college football analyst for ABC Sports and ESPN.
Well kids, I'm back blogging again.
After a very very long hiatus, an admission to myself: all of these unfinished posts that I have unpublished are never going to be finished, so screw it, they're not going up. Part of me feels bad because I felt like I had some awesome leads -- rafting in Maine, this whole "thank you god for this most amazing" feeling while I was down in NYC, and a bunch of other things. But ohhhh well...
To the important shiat: Notre Dame football. I don't try to replicate good football rundowns because I suck at communicating it. The Blue-Gray Sky has got a pretty good post: Handy Household Tips for scUM removal.
All of this, and I gave away my Michigan tickets at home this weekend. So Ro, Will, Joe and Travis roadtripped in my little Corolla from Boston to South Bend, and I guess they're meeting up with my sister's fiance (that sounds wicked weird!) to do what I wicked want to do: tailgate, drink cold duck like I'm ghetto-plat'num, and of course watch Notre Dame dominate Michigan! I'm wicked jealous!!!
But you know what... watching at GameOn! will be wicked awesome after my first week of work EVER!
Muck Fichigan!
... especially after taking a final that's left you with a bruised big fat muscle in the palm of your hand (what's that called again?) -- watching Leno.
The Kentucky Derby and Lindsay Lohan. What do they got to do with the Equitable Remedies final? Nothing really, except Mo Rocca at the Kentucky Derby was absolutely hilarious. I can see me, the ND mofos, the Suffolk mofos, and Jeff Colombo rocking it out at the Kentucky Derby, with the gentry and with the common folk. It would be cool to drink with Peyton Manning and Christina Aguilera, don't you think?
I laughed way too hard though... and I don't want to spoil things for my readers on the West Coast who are going to be watching Leno later on.
But I have to warn you: Lindsay Lohan looks like she's a 35-year-old strung out whatever. Poor girl. And I used to love her. Ehhh, she's still cute. I can't get over her being on crack. I could help her, right?
[related link: Lindsay Lohan does radio quip for D.A.R.E.]
Adam at Universal Hub has got this really cool post about the Library of Congress and all of these really neat antique baseball photos in the Bain Collection. All the info's this way. Talk about cool!
Just think... some day we'll have pictures of other Red Sox who defected to the Yankees (cough, ahem, Johnny Damon, among others...)
This is actually quite embarrassing, but I may as well out myself while I'm ahead: I don't know how to golf.
I've been meaning to do this forever. At Notre Dame, I knew that I needed to sign up for the Golf class in PE, but I never got a chance to. (Hence, the Abe quote "What do I do with this stick?") Back in Boston, I always thought I'd learn, but nothing but broken promises to myself. Supposed to learn with MW--no follow up on my part. Then, I started making excuses, along the lines of: "I'm a city kid. I grew up in the Projects. The largest patch of green near me is the Eden St. Park, and dogs do their business there... so OH WELL..."
Well, now life is catching up to me. I keep on getting invited to Golf foursomes and such. I don't know what to do. "Sorry, I've never touched a golf club in my life. Except for minigolf putters. Yeah, those are cool." That won't cut it, I don't think, in the world of finance. It's now or never. To be made or not to be made. Deal or no deal. Damn...
So I guess during bar review, and the month of August, I need to take extreme measures and find some amigos who want to haul me out there and start at square one. I'll give you all of the production rights. I'm sure it's going to be just as hilarious (and annoying) as an episode of MTV's MADE.
Pshaw! Yeah right...
But I did run 4 1/2 miles on pavement on Saturday. To my surprise, no shin splints. It must be the Adidas running sneakers. There's some things in life that should never be changed. One of those things is sticking with the good old Response trail runners... So good to me for city running... I never should have doubted you, good old A-D-I-D-A-S, even though I have this inexplicable loyalty to New Balance.
Well, what else? Patriot's Day is today. Yet another holiday for we people from Massachusetts and North Massachusetts, ahem, Maine. Today commemorates the Battle of Lexington & Concord. It's the day the Revolutionary War basically started, because our badass forefathers and foredaughters (no, this is not a John Mayer song) rose up and decided to fight the man. Other loyal biatches didn't follow along, so the stories go. They eventually would flee to New Brunswick, which at the time was a bastion of British-lovin'. Those crazy Canadians... but I shouldn't talk... I really like England...
Getting back to Patriot's Day, though, some cool things have sprung out of it here in Massachusetts. 
The whole Battle of Lexington & Concord thing totally influenced Howard Fast's book, April Morning. I remember really liking that book as a 7th grader at Boston Latin. Others detested the fact that we had to read it, under the supervision of
a 24-year old Harvard Ed School grad (I still need to figure out how the other 12-year-olds conjured up such hate for the dude, but in retrospect, it must have been the parents)... but I liked it a lot, especially since the book was sequenced into the first 10 days of April. To be honest, though, I don't remember too much about the book, except for maybe the images that I created in my head of the guerilla-style fight scenes in which the Minutemen (and Minute-kids?) kept on shooting the red coats along the way. Oh yeah, and learning about quartering soldiers and the Constitution.
A lot better than "Johnny Tremain: The Boy With the Deformed Hand." (see the Ramseelbird review, it's funny...)
The Boston Marathon plays itself out on Patriot's Day observed. I was actually training to run the Boston Half Marathon in October. Training until I kept on hurting my ankle playing CYAC Ultimate Frisbee (although not as bad as Mr. Reed) and running on it because "injuries don't happen to guys." Pshaw #2--that biatch hurt forever!
The Marathon, though, is such a cool thing to get wrapped up into around here in Boston. I remember being a little kid--maybe six or seven--and going with my mom, some of her friends, my sister Ro and my bro Will, to the festivities in Copley Square. People were strewn in cramps on the ground, whelping and crying and puking. Others were in blankets. Of course, there were sketchy people in short shorts. I remember thinking: "what is wrong with these people?" Normal people would come through as well, and I recall thinking how cool it was to have 15 or so people cheer you on and surround you after you basically fell into someone's arms. I remember, too, kind of feeling sorry for the people who just finishing, looking for someone, and then walking away. Of course, the highlight of the day had to be riding the Green Line on the T. I was such a geeky 6 year old. I absolutely loved those trains and buses! It's weird how I keep these weird, random memories framed in my head in History-channel voice-over style.
Take away some Wikipedia links on the Boston Marathon...
Ok. That was a long-ramble. The whole post was going to be able this one post secret postcard that I thought was really cool (see below) and why Josh Beckett is one bad as mofo for the idiots (the Red Sox, for all you Chicago people). Of course, I never got to writing about that. Go figure.
tuition's due!
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