Football Season is Over

That was an awful game- I never expected the Colts to lose. And while I have to give credit to San Diego's defense, that was mostly a crappy effort by the Colts all around. All the bizarre tipped passes that went right into the Charger's hands didn't help matters, either. That one-handed catch by the Charger's lineman was pretty sweet, though.

The thing that stunned me this morning while watching Sportscenter was Mark Schlereth's (who I usually agree with) comments. He kept saying things like "It was a big win for the Chargers, considering everything was against them" and he continued to talk about how the referees were picking on them. He showed a few plays in particular- one was what he called a "phantom interference" penalty, called on the Chargers. This was one of those technicality penalties, where they did it, but it wasn't that bad, you know? Plus, during the game the showed two replay angles- one where you couldn't see the penalty, and a second one where you could (which made the announcers say "Oh, there it is"). But this morning, they only showed the angle where you couldn't see it over and over while calling it a bogus call. Why do that? Why pick a penalty that was a good call, then try to make it look bad and only show the inconclusive evidence? It felt like a political ad.

The other one was when San Diego returned an interception 80-some yards for a touchdown, then it was called back due to a holding penalty on the Chargers. All the replays showed it. He did it, it was wrong, end of story, right? But Schlereth said it was a bad call, not because the refs called it incorrectly, but because it was a big play. I believe the quote was "C'mon, you just can't call that on a big play like this!" He added "I got away with way worse than that when I played." So let me get this straight: the penalty shouldn't have been called because it enabled San Diego to make a devastating play? Isn't that the best reason to call a penalty? I don't get it. All in all, I thought the officiating was pretty fair.

The fun part of the game for me was that it was the first Colts game I've watched with Ramya (some others had been on in the background). She doesn't watch football, but she's really been a trooper about it! She made a few comments like "This is hard!" and "My pulse is going up." After the Colts lost she was like "Man, I'm all bummed out, and I don't even care about this game!" I told her that's the life of a football fan- the lows are worth it because of the highs.

Since we're talking about Ramya and football, it's also worth mentioning that she did come to the Motor City Bowl over Christmas, and she cheered her heart out for the Boilermakers. And one point I said something footbally to her, like "See that gain? The keep pulling in the linebackers then throwing to the tight end in the slot." She responded with "Look at the cheerleaders: the first cheer girl and cheer man are in love and nobody knows." She added "Watch: he always drops her then catches her and they hold on to each other a little too long and smile." I'll be danged, she was right.

So back to the NFL, who do I root for now? The short answer is "Whoever is playing the Patriots." I've had it with them.

Totally unrelated:

Today I checked my sitemeter (which tells me about visitors to this site) and someone in Pune, Maharashtra, India found my blog by searching for "Cool ans sex." What the heck is that, and why did it lead them to this page?

Someone also got to this page by searching for "what is brown sauce." Now that someone has found their way here by searching for actual information and found it, I feel this puts me in league with Wikipedia.

Good vs Evil

It was an all-around great football weekend, with Purdue thumping Iowa (which I was able to hear in the car, courtesy of XM), the Colts taking out the Jaguars (as Ramya said "Poor Jacksonville- they have so little else going for them"), and of course, Notre Dame's continuing humiliation.

But earlier today at lunch, we were discussing how golden boy Tom Brady is on pace to shatter my boy Payton Manning's single-season touchdown record. I commented that while in 2005 Payton was throwing a ridiculous number of touchdowns because the defense stunk and the Colts needed 48 points to win games, this year the Patriots are mercilessly running up the score an crappy teams. Dana (who is a Pats fan by marriage) continued to defend them, but I know what I've seen.
Then, look what the lead story on ESPN.com was: Good vs. Evil, which opens with the tagline: "Patriots at Colts has a powerful, compelling narrative. Namely -- Good vs. Evil. The fact that I don't even need to tell you which team represents Good and which stands for Evil says a lot about how low New England has sunk." So there- I'm not the only one who's noticed. I was as much of a Pats fan as anyone back in the day, when they were the scrappy band of good-guy unknowns, but the fact is that after years of constant praise and string of championships, they've become just another arrogant juggernaut. Don't get me wrong, if the roles were flipped and the Colts won a string of Superbowls and became big jerks, I'd defend them just like Pats fans are doing now. But for the time being, I'm tired of New England's attitude.

Seriously though, check out the column. As usual, he discusses several other topics, including college athlete graduation rates (this report seems to indicate that Purdue athletes are more likely to graduate than the average student- though the football team's rate is pretty sad) and the way movies have dangerous objects exclusively for the purpose of staging a fight scene (like the magic gate of death in Harry Potter (which I, immediately after reading, proclaimed to be the dumbest death scene ever because the stupid gate had no possible purpose) or the office tank of sharks in Dr. No).

World Champions!

I hardly believe it. After so many near misses, the Colts are now Superbowl Champions. I don't even know what to say. It was a fun game to watch, but I don't know what I can add that the mainstream media hasn't beat to death. So here's what I thought was interesting:

• That was the first Superbowl ever played in the rain (in Miami no less).
• That was the first opening kickoff return for a touchdown in a Superbowl (it helped the Bears as much as it helped Ohio State).
• That was the first time a dome team won an outdoor Superbowl.
• Out of 41 Superbowls, only 26 different Quarterbacks have won (they can't all be Trent Dilfer).

All in all, it was a good watching. Now, sports fan etiquette says that I am not allowed to complain about the Colts for five years. We'll see how that goes. And finally:

GO COLTS!

Colts Fans- Boring?

I read this little tidbit in yesterday's USA Today:

At Miami Beach's News Cafe, waiter Chris McNeill clued me in on how to spot a Bears fan: "They've got a lot of facial hair and they're always hungry."

What about Colts fans?

"They're plain and they have no personality," McNeill says.

I think them's fightin' words. But I guess he should know- he is a waiter. A warning to Miamians: don't make me generally dislike you like I do people from California and New York (city).

Also notice that the name of the column is "Laugh all the way to the Super Bowl." This clearly invokes my theory that it you preface something with a promise of humor, it's automatically 20-30% percent less funny right off the bat.

And you, Mr. Chris McNeill, are on notice.

SUPERBOWL!

I don't even know what to say. I would never say that I gave up on this season, it just all felt little too familiar. The Colts were winning games, but they looked way too shaky at times. They lost to the Titans and the Texans. I won't even get in to the run defense. And then, when the playoffs started it was like someone flipped a switch and the intensity was back.

All things considered, that was one of the best football games I've ever seen. When we were down 21-3 late in the first half, I was beside myself, thinking "It's like they don't want to win." The stinking Patriots. They're like Colts kryptonite. Plus, Reche "Headlights" Caldwell's eyes were freaking me out a little bit. But, I knew that coach Dungy makes great halftime adjustments, so I stuck it out.

The second half was amazing! I was on the edge of my seat. It was great to see the Colts not panic, and slowly chip away at the deficit. I won't do a play-by-play, but I will say that I love Dallas Clark. Also, I had a mini-heart attack when Reggie Wayne bobbled that pass in the 4th quarter.

In short, I am beside myself with joy that the Colts are in the big game. I might almost consider going to the game if tickets weren't $3000.

I'm happy that Peyton Manning finally made it, but I love Tony Dungy. I've read several interviews with him, and I think he's a generally good guy and although he is often criticized for his calm demeanor, I like that about him. I could never stand the whole "motivation by humiliation," screaming, scary coach thing. Now, I do appreciate the fact that we're going to have not one, but two black coaches in the superbowl. Get ready to hear about that constantly for the next two weeks. But I'm more excited that you have two coaches in the superbowl that are decent human beings, who understand that this is a game, being played by professional adults, not life and death. Here's a good column to that effect. That said, I really really really want to win.

So now I need to decide what to do for the game itself. I assumed that I would just watch it here with friends, but then Jim prompted that this could be a once in a lifetime thing, and maybe I should try to make it more special. I thought about going to the game itself, because how cool would it be to actually go to a Superbowl? Of course, since crappy tickets will set you back about 3000 junior bacon cheeseburgers, I wrote that off pretty quickly. So now I'm toying with the idea of going to Indy for the weekend. I figure Carly and I could find a good place with some other fans to watch the game, and it would be a lot cheaper. Of course, either way I'm going to wear my Harrison jersey, because I can't switch while they're winning. I know that what I'm wearing has no effect on a football game a thousand miles away, but still.

And if Reggie Miller is wrong, I don't want to know what right is. Go Colts!