Out of Their Misery
Thankfully, the Bills and Browns are both now out of their misery. It’s little solace that 4 teams finished worse than the Browns, or 10 than the Bills. I fear that if Cleveland had to play any of the teams below them, they’d lose, including to 0-16 Detroit. Phil Savage (GM) and Romeo Crennel (Coach) are both gone. And now we look forward to another rebuilding project. Joy.
Bills Football
I simply cannot believe how bad the Bills played in the last 3 minutes of the game on Sunday. It was as if they were trying to give the game to the Jets. JP Losman can’t leave town fast enough, in my book. Somehow, I just knew he’d find a way to lose that game. It got so bad, even the announcers were trashing the team, commenting that the Bills were “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.” Later, NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth had nothing good to say about JP either. “Incompetent” was used several times. Seriously, when are the coaches going to figure out that JP is a liability and it’s better to go with the 3rd stringer if Trent can’t go?
One day, I look forward to rooting for a football team that is a great one. The Browns and Bills certainly aren’t there.
Here, Take it!
Enjoyed watching the Browns game this evening with Jim Passage. Didn’t enjoy the outcome much tho. It was as if the Browns (Kellen Winslow and Brandon McDonald especially) were trying to give the game to Denver. Oh well. At least the Browns gave me 52 points in my fantasy league between Quinn, Lewis and Winslow.
Subjecting Myself to Torture
I’m making a trip into Cleveland today to go to the Cleveland Browns/New York Giants football game. I hope to see a game, but I fear it might be a massacre. There’s always a chance I’ll be surprised, but I doubt it. Of course, it might be a win/win for me too. Either the Browns play well and keep it a game, possibly even winning, or the Giants Defense goes crazy and I get lots of points for my Fantasy Team. That may have the added bonus of seeing Brady Quinn for the first time. Though I doubt they’d throw him in there on a Monday Night game. Like last time, I’ll be Twittering the game.
Football As I See It: Week 5
My thoughts about Football and the things that “interrupt” it from Week 5 in the NFL:
- Left church around 1:10. Remembered I never updated my Fantasy teams. Not a good start to the football afternoon.
- Flipping between Colts/Texans and Giants/Seahawks for the first 10 minutes. Finally settled on the Giants game. Unless the Bills or Browns are playing, I think I almost always land on the Fox game. They’re broadcasters are just so much better.
- I still don’t like Eli Manning, but he’s becoming a great quarterback. I didn’t expect the Giants to be in this position this year, and he’s a big reason they haven’t slipped despite losing key guys on defense.
- Poor Matt Hasselbeck. He has no receivers to throw to. I might make their team.
- 2:45 – Off to rooted. Had 6 youth and 2 adults at the first rooted. It was a great time. I think we’ll grow into the model after a few meetings, but I’m very pleased with the start.
- Pam S. is the bearer of bad news as she picks up Zack from rooted: Bills are down 14-0, Trent Edwards knocked out of the game with a concussion on the first drive. Not good.
- Get in my car to head home and the first thing I hear is Trent is out with a concussion. I get it already!
- I fear this is not going to be good for the Bills. Losman is beyond terrible at QB. History has shown that teams also tend to do poorly when a backup is thrown in there. My fears will be proved right shortly…
- Losman holds the ball way too long.
- Jason Peters isn’t helping by letting guys get around him to JP
- Bills lose, as expected. I’m not sure we win that game with Trent, but it’s certainly a much better game to watch.
- If I had recently purchased a big-screen television, planned to have a big 5-0 party, found out WIVB was being pulled from Cable, stood on my roof trying to get an antenna to work for the game, had to move the party to another location and then watched this game, I’d be pretty mad. Just saying.
- Listened to a little of the post-game show on WGR. People were taking it better than expected. I suppose we are 4-1 after all.
- Apparently everyone who calls Peter King about football starts of their sentence with “Look”. Ever notice that?
- I should be a lot more excited about Steelers/Jags than I am. Ended up only watching a little bit of the game. Jaime and I watched some Amazing Race and then Grey’s Anatomy on DVD.
Football as I See It: Week 4
My thoughts about Football and the things that “interrupt” it from Week 4 in the NFL:
- Missed the first half of the 1 o’clock games because of a Workcamp Meeting.
- Got home to find the Jets up big at the half over the Cardinals. How in the world did that happen?
- Kurt Warner and the Cards came out firing in the 2nd half. This is why you don’t go soft on defense. Ever. Prevent defenses are dumb.
- Speaking of Kurt Warner, he’s got to be one of my favorite football players. He’s a strong Christian and sounds like a great dad. Check out one of his family traditions. (NY Times via Peter King)
- The 1-3 Browns struggled to beat an awful 0-4 Bengals team. I wasn’t really in favor of starting Brady Quinn, but maybe it’s time after all. And Romeo Crenell needs to learn how to be decisive.
- Went to the Stone household for the Bills game. Pam commented about my experience with the Morris family and football, specifically the lunch, lamenting that she didn’t have anything to offer in comparison. Turns out “nothing” was actually cheese, pepperoni, crackers, chips, salsa, melted cheese dip, peanut M&Ms and unsweetened iced tea. Yum.
- Why do the Bills have to start slow all the time?
- They always look great in the 2nd half though. Good adjustments and a little more aggressive on the play-calling it seems.
- Interesting conversation with Pam and Tim during the game. We talked about possibly adding a once/month time for our High School youth to just come to church and hang out. We’d have the students do some sort of devotion, taking turns who leads it, then just have unstructured time. Maybe it’s also a time for parents to come hang out and get to know one another as well. The relational investment may just help our other ministry events that much better. We’re going to look for a time to try it out soon and see where it goes.
- I loved seeing Greer intercept that pass and take it back for a TD. I have the Bills defense on my Fantasy team. Unfortunately, it looks like another loss unless Hines Ward has a monster game this evening.
- I also loved the Trent Edwards to Lee Evans 39-yard strike. Awesome.
- We also watched the tail end of the Dallas/Washington game. I’m so happy to see Dallas lose. Maybe the ‘72 Dolphins will be toasting the Buffalo Bills whenever our first loss occurs. Except they appear not to actually do that. The Bills are one of 5 undefeated teams with the possibility of one (Ravens) going down this evening.
- Returned home around 7:30 p.m. and set about helping Jaime with some baby stuff. She was writing thank-you notes for our recent shower, so I moved the stuff upstairs as she finished and put the handles on our new dresser. Check out some of the stuff:
- The finished dresser, first piggy bank, first doll and Mommy/Daddy/Baby photo frame:
- A close-up of the same stuff:
- 12 Month dress/sweater and 24 Month shirt/jeans outfits. Two of many cute articles of clothing received at the shower:
- Closed the night with the last few episodes of The Office from Season 4. We’re now caught up with the show. As Jaime drifted off to sleep, I turned on the last portion of the Eagles/Bears game. Looked good, but I was also too tired to stay up so we went to bed.
Football as I See It: Week 3
Spent the first half of the afternoon at the Passage household with Sue, Jim and Kathy watching the Bills, then came back home to get some cleaning done for the Baby and watch parts of the Sunday night game. Here’s what I thought:
- Great lunch today. Thanks!
- Marshawn Lynch was running awfully slow for most of the game.
- His acrobatic touchdown was cool though.
- The Raiders were better than expected.
- Trent Edwards is going to be a really good QB some day.
- Jason Peters needs to get his act together on pass blocking.
- I heard a caller on the post-game show say something similar to what I felt when Oakland scored their long TD to go back up by 9 points late in the 4th. I knew the Bills could come back from this deficit still. And they did. How long has it been since Buffalo fans could say that?
- Speaking of “how long has it been…”, did Miami really just thump the Patriots or was that a staged game? Imagine all those Pats fans leaving the game early.
- Listened to football post-game talk while cleaning our back room, the place we store stuff we don’t know what to do with and all of our books. Note to people who have too much stuff: have a baby. It’s suddenly a lot easier to get rid of stuff when it’s making room for the baby. We actually have empty space on the book shelves now from all the books we got rid of.
- Philadelphia looked awesome in the tail end of their game with Pittsburgh.
- The Browns are 0-3. I can’t ever see myself rooting for the Bills as my #1 team over my hometown Browns, but maybe I should. It’s going to be tough to decide who to root for at the Monday night game when the Browns come to town to play the Bills. Browns will likely be done for the season by that point, while Buffalo could be chasing the division title.
- I love watching highlights on the “Football Night in America” show. Keith Olberman and Dan Patrick are funny. Cris Collensworth is insightful. Tiki Barber and Jerome Bettis are great. Peter King is awesome. Good stuff.
- Dallas/Green Bay was not very exciting for most of the first half. Just as I told Jaime we could turn The Office on DVD instead, Jones breaks a long run. Still, more fun to watch The Office with Jaime than Football alone, so it’s all good.
- Caught the last quarter of the game as Jaime snoozed on the couch with me. The Cowboys looked really good, especially Barber, despite his fumble. He’s a scary, physical back.
- My Fantasy season is pretty much over. 2-10 across 4 leagues currently. Ick.
Football as I See (or Hear) it: Week 2
Some of my thoughts from Week 2 of the NFL Season:
- Bills looked great on the first drive of the game.
- Great food at the Morris household where I watched the first quarter of the game before jetting to Cleveland. Thanks!
- There are a ton of sponsors for games on the radio.
- I hate driving 55 MPH through Erie, PA. What’s up with that?
- Lost the Bills game just after Hardy scored his touchdown. Counting on ESPN Radio for updates now.
- Arrived downtown for dinner before the Browns game at 5:40 PM. Lots of Steelers fans walking around.
- Ordered the Filet Mignon at the Chophouse.
- “Your food will be up in 2 minutes” is a lie. Unless the waiter meant the length of time it takes to play the last 2 minutes of a game.
- The food was Yummy!
- While walking to the game, we game a full, untouched meal from the Chophouse to a homeless person. Fun!
- Browns’ defense looks OK, offense looks horrible.
- Torrential rains at the game. Glad we’re under the upper deck enough to stay dry.
- Browns kick a field goal with 3:40 to play, making it 10-6. Stupid call. Go for a touchdown!
- Browns lose, we take the “Walk of Shame” to the parking lot and head home.
- 30 minutes later, I’m home and getting ready to go to bed.
Football as I See it: Week 1
Some of my thoughts from the NFL games this Sunday as I watch them:
- The Bills defense is surprisingly good.
- Trent is looking much better this year.
- The Fox announcers assigned to the Bills are sub-par.
- Loved the Burger King “reverse pickpocket” commercial. “Stunt King. Do not attempt.”
- Fake field goal was brilliant.
- Brett Favre is looking good in his debut with the Jets.
- Browns defense thinks it’s still the preseason.
- T.O. made an amazing catch on the opening drive.
- Mannings vs. Williams in the DSRL was a great commercial.
- Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are the best commentators in football. Funny to hear them tell the back stories of the Browns prefaced by “in case you didn’t know”. Most people probably don’t, but it’s funny for me who does.
- The Browns excel at giving up yardage in large chunks.
- They also seem to excel at losing helmets.
- All reports are pointing to Tom Brady being out for the year. That puts my fantasy teams in an awful spot, but puts the Bills in serious contention for the division title.
- The balance of power in the AFC was really upset yesterday. Indy, San Diego, Jacksonville all lost. New England lost their star QB, making them a 9-7 or 8-8 team. Crazy weekend.
Super Sunday
The Super Bowl is finally here. Tonight we get to see history as the Patriots go for the perfect season against the Giants. We won’t be seeing it, however, at church this year. We aren’t having our youth Super Bowl party this year, mostly due to a conflict of scheduling with all the other stuff coming up this week for youth ministry.
Perhaps that decision months ago was for the best as the Washington Post is reporting that the NFL is not allowing churches to show the game on screens larger than 55 inches. I understand their concern: large audiences at churches and other venues reduce ratings numbers and thus the profits to the league that come from those ratings. It’s unfortunate, but if we’re going to be serious about teaching against downloading music without paying for it, we have to respect this copyright. We’ll have to think about what to do for next year and whether or not we have a party at church.
Pursuing Perfection
The NFL Network has decided to simulcast the Patriots-Giants game this Saturday on NBC and CBS in addition to the NFL Network. The game is important because the Patriots are going for a perfect season, something not done since the 1972 Dolphins, who went 14-0. The Patriots would be the first to go 16-0. It’s exciting, but I find the details of how we got here interesting. My quick thoughts on it:
- The NFL caved, despite saying they wouldn’t, by showing this game on free TV. So much for using this as leverage against the Cable companies.
- This is good for football, but could be bad for the NFL Network. From what I’ve heard, their broadcasts are typically atrocious. I might watch and decide it’s a good thing I don’t have NFL Network at home.
- What a shame to not have the best available broadcasters doing this historic game. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman of FOX get my vote, but Michaels and Madden (NBC) are close behind.
As we look forward to the final contest of the regular season, I’m reminded of Jesus’ birth. Jesus was born among us that he might pursue perfection Himself. He kept the Law of God perfectly, fulfilling it and taking the punishment that we deserved. In return, we receive His righteousness, forgiveness and eternal life. Praise God!
Selfless Living
I lost fantasy football playoff match this past weekend thanks to poor performances from of my best scorers. Tom Brady scored 3 points for me, down from an average of 25 this season. Kellen Winslow gave me 2 points, down from 10. Marshawn Lynch of the hometown Bills gave me 8 points, but I’ve come to expect about 15 from him. As bad as it was to lose because of a poor week, I’d hate to lose by 5 or fewer points and have Brian Westbrook.
Westbrook is the star running back for the Philadelphia Eagles. With about 2:30 left in the game, he broke a run outside with a clear path to the end zone. He ran to the one yard line and downed himself without scoring a touchdown. Why? The Dallas Cowboys had no timeouts left, and Westbrook knew that the Eagles could kneel down three times and run out the clock for the sure win. If he scores, Dallas gets the ball with a chance to score, kick an onsides kick, recover and score again. It’s a farfetched scenario, but it’s possible. Instead of padding his stats (and giving 6 points or more to his fantasy owners), he put the team over his own glory.
As Christians, we are called to a selfless living for others.
Matthew 16:24-25
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
Well Done Indeed
Peter King is one of the few sports writers that I consistently read. He’s even in my Reader so I don’t miss anything he writes. By far, his best column is the Monday Morning Quarterback each week. He wrote about Tom Brady and his “Well Done” quote that I blogged about a few days ago. Brady had an interesting response to Peter’s question about where he learned how to always say the right thing. Brady’s text message response:
Ben Franklin said that. I learn from where we all have, my dad!
We celebrated another baptism at church this past weekend and Pastor Whited again shared how our kids get an impression of their Heavenly Father by looking at their earthly father. Tom Brady’s dad certainly passed down some great things to him. I pray we are passing great spiritual truths on to our kids as well!
Well Done is Better Than Well Said
That was Tom Brady’s response to a Pittsburgh Steelers player guaranteeing a win this weekend over the Patriots. He got the line from Ben Franklin. It’s a great response, and one that rings true for us in the church as well. The Word of God is important, and should certainly be preached and taught, but well done is better than just well said. Really, it’s about living a life (well done) that points people to Christ and His Gospel (well said). Are your life in such a way that others see Christ?
Matthew 5:16 (NIV)
16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Baby It’s Cold Outside
Word on the street is that there’s going to be a big snow storm late this evening and early tomorrow morning. Not being a big fan of snow, I can’t say I’m happy about this. It was already getting started this morning as I drove to Joshua’s Men at the church. Since neither of us enjoy the snow, Jaime and I decided that it would be a good day to get out the Christmas Decorations.
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| Christmas Decorations |
We also splurged and purchased some new Christmas songs from the iTunes Music Store. The new playlist:
- Angels We Have Heard on High by Chris Tomlin
- Baby It’s Cold Outside by Dean Martin
- In The Bleak Midwinter by Jars of Clay
- O Come All Ye Faithful by Jeremy Camp
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing by Rebecca St. James
- 12 Days of Christmas by Relient K
- Handel’s Messiah (The Hallelujah Chorus) by Relient K
Chris Tomlin needs to come out with a Christmas album, as does David Crowder (who has a single song, Feliz Navidad, that I can’t bring myself to purchase). Relient K has a great take on the songs we purchased, plus several others. They’re always a good listen if you like rock/punk.
And now, for being such a trooper while decorating, I get to sit and watch a little bit of the OU-Missouri football game to see if my Buckeyes back their way into the National Title Game. I’d like to see it happen because I’m a fan, but also because it just looks bad for the BCS. They really need a new system…
56 Minutes
That’s how long it took the Buffalo Bills to force a punt in the Sunday Night Football debacle against the New England Patriots. Art Schaefer passed his tickets along to Pastor, who gave them to me. I had never been to a Bills (or any other) regular season pro-football game before last night. I went with Chris Hartnett, a friend from my awesome life group.
Somewhere around half-time, we realized that the Patriots hadn’t punted yet, which would explain the 35-7 score on the JumboTron. 26 game minutes into the 2nd half, the Bills defense finally forced a punt after giving up about 45 yards on the drive. Sure, it took the 2nd team, junior varsity Patriot offense to get the punt, but it’s the small victories that you look for against the Pats.
Overall, I had a great time at my first Bills game despite the score, the temperature (~25) and the “obnoxious, combative and drunk” fans we were warned about during the game by the PA announcer. Not the best environment, but still a good time. I’ll also get to say that I saw the great 19-0 New England Patriots in person someday. The taped message from Kevin Everett was also great to see.
