It Was Worth Losing

Good morning everyone.  I'm going to start the ramble off with sports today just because yesterday was such an interesting day in the NFL.  I'm participating (was) in this little "suicide" contest with 14 other blogger types where we each had to pick ONE team each week who was going to win their game - STRAIGHT UP, not against the spread.  Well, yesterday myself and ten other bloggers (and based on the information that I was getting at the bar yesterday, most of America) picked the Patriots over the Cardinals.  Many dreams of winning various suicide contests were CRUSHED when New England choked up their game to Arizona 20-18.  As badly as they played, they had a chance to win the game at the end with a field goal, which sailed wide left, ironically enough, much like the one that the Ravens missed at the end of last year's AFC Championship Game which sent the Patriots onto the Super Bowl.  Although I would have admittedly loved the free Steelers t-shirt or sweatshirt from Lucki Duck (DUH), I AM a Steelers fan, and seeing the Patriots and the Ravens lose yesterday while the Steelers won..., well, I must admit, I'm not THAT heartbroken...  ;)  It was worth losing...  :)  In related news, the loser of next Sunday's matchup between the Ravens and Patriots will be 1-2 to start the season...  :)  It seems that the Patriots and the USC Trojans were just a little overrated this year.  USC had trouble with Syracuse last week (who had trouble with STONY BROOK on Saturday - I never checked that final, so I don't even know if Syracuse beat Stony Brook), and then the Trojans lose to Stanford AGAIN (4th straight time) on Saturday, with Barkley quarterbacking USC, and Luck playing for the Colts, not the Cardinal (good weekend for 'Cardinal'-related teams, eh?)...  Also on a related-note, I went 6-4 on my picks this weekend, and 4-2 on the NFL ones, which seems like a minor miracle given this weekend - looks like the 'Coach' is back on track after that 4-9-1 start ...  ;)  If you happen to have a free moment today, check out the NFL standings and note how many teams are sitting at 1-1 right now - this will just ensure that the season stays interesting that much longer...  By the way, even though the renovated Bobcat Stadium "only" seats 30,000, our parking situation around town is very similar to that in Austin on gameday, where UT's Royal Memorial Stadium seats over 100,000 - you cannot park anywhere near the stadium on gameday unless you get very lucky...  As the week following the Texas Tech game proceeded, I kept hearing tales of where people parked and how far they hiked to Bobcat Stadium.  As I find myself touching on college football again, did anyone else notice that Alabama and LSU are numbers 1 and 2 in the polls again?  Wouldn't it be AWESOME if they met in the National Championship after playing each other in the regular season?  That hasn't happened since...  Oh, and back on the topic of the NFL, did anyone notice those two hits to the head on players in the fourth quarter of last night's Lions/49ers game that were not called?  I'm guessing that the NFL gets the regular officials back on the field before too long - I personally saw a lot more sketchy calls/non-calls yesterday than I did during Week 1.  Also yesterday, Yahoo! ran a story about a replacement official who was already warming-up to call the Saints/Panthers game when he was pulled from the lineup.  Someone found his facebook page, where this guy is totally outfitted in  Saints gear, a diehard New Orleans fan...  :)  On that note, I'll wish you a good day and I'll see you again on Wednesday!