Well, football season is back in full swing, so Saturdays are pretty interesting for me. This is a quick recap of the last three Husker games from my bleacher seat:
"Niles Paul you are breaking my heart . . . "
That was the wail that went up from a very nice Husker fan at he Union Pub 3 weeks ago when the Huskers didn't do so well against Texas. Setting the scene: The Huskers seem to finally be back from the bill callahan oblivion and have had a couple of good seasons with Bo Pelini at the helm. The one constant thorn in the Husker's side has been Mack Brown and his team from Texas. This year was going to be different, or so the 2 million or so Husker faithful thought. The Blackshirts were more than Ndamakung Suh, our newly found QB was racking up the yards at a blazingly fast pace, and the game was in Lincoln. We were going to win, no questions asked. Well, after dropping three passes that would have changed the game, our faithful senior wide receiver, one of the cornerstones of the offense that had suffered under Callahan and been redeemed under Pelini, dropped another one. When that happened, the air went out of the Union Pub and the devil cashed in another win for Texas. All told, there were 4 clear TD passes dropped that were right on the numbers or catches a wide receiver probably should have made. Good game by Texas, but dang.
Union Pub notes: A few years ago, I discovered the gathering place for the Husker faithful in DC: the Union Pub, near Union Station. I regularly went there if I was in town to catch the Huskers in a friendly environment. It is a pretty good place to watch the Huskers, standard bar food, beer and folks from Nebraska. Over the years though, a few cracks in the institution have started to show. First of all, the owner sells/pushes raffle tickets during the game, the story behind the raffle tickets has changed a few times - - it is either to donate to a scholarship, or to fund the cable reception of the game. He gets a little pushy about the tickets, which naturally annoys me, and if it is to fund the reception of the game, I would just like to remind him that I wouldn't be buying his 6 dollar beer and 9 dollar hot dog combo at his fine establishment if the Huskers weren't on the screen. I can do that at Applebees.
The second thing that struck me during the Texas loss was Husker fans may have lost their perspective, and that wearing a red shirt gives them certain liberties. For example, when Niles Paul and Bryant Kinnie dropped the last of their certain TD passes, a few folks called them idiots or other such names. First of all, they aren't the ones watching a football game in a bar, they are on the field, probably trying as hard as they can to win the game for the Husker faithful. Second, the idiot is the one guzzling beer and yelling at the TV. My perspective over the years have changed, I just like to watch the Huskers play, if one of them makes a mistake, I try to remember that they are in the 19-22 year old range and are trying their hardest and I appreciate their effort, I know they feel bad, and will feel worse when they see the film after the game. When I saw Bryant Kinnie with his head hung low on the bench after a TD pass went in and out of his hands, I felt bad for him, but it is only a game.
Enough about the Horns, bring on the Cowboys.
For some reason, Nebraska has had problems playing home games. I am not sure if the kids feel more pressure with 85,000 faithful in the stands or what, but sometimes they aren't sharp. On the road, different story. The Big Red Machine traveled down to Oklahoma City to face the Cowboys for the last time. The Cowboys have been up and comers in the Big 12 South for a few years, but haven't quite turned the corner against the Sooners, maybe this is the year, but they didn't turn the corner against the Huskers. From the start, this was a track meet - - when you spell NU and OSU or Nebraska and Oklahoma State, you will notice there are no D's there; last saturday, there was no D (defense) until the second half. The first half of the game, Taylor Martinez (the second coming of Eric Crouch and Tommie Frazier combined) ran wild on the Cowboys and threw like Peyton Manning. Niles Paul and Bryant Kinnie redeemed themselves, and Niles Paul even threw in a 100 yard punt return for a TD as an apology to the Husker faithful. The second half, the Blackshirt defensive backs completely shut down the OSU air game, and the game was over.
Over the past years, Bo and Carl Pelini have built a defense that is specifically designed to stop the spread offenses that have sprung up in college football. The spread offense used to be the offense that would allow a smaller team use it's size and speed to knock off a more powerful team. A lot of more powerful teams adopted it, especially in the Big 12. Nebraska built a defense that was built on the same speed principles. Very small, quick linebackers and a lot of fast defensive backs. This goes back to Tom Osborne's transformation to speed in the early 90s. Nebraska could whip up on other teams with it's size and power in the 80s, but when we stepped out of the Big 8 and played other teams, they ran right past us. Now, Bo and Carl have built a defense that will stop a fast, spread offense, specifically Missouri.
Gary Pinkel took over at Missouri several years ago, and he brought a spread style offense to the Big 12 North, and Nebraska couldn't deal with it. They beat Nebraska a few times, and it seemed that Nebraska couldn't stop it, so other North teams adopted it: Colorado, Kansas and a few others. Nebraska suffered through a few 50, 60 70 point beat downs against those teams, especially in the callahan era.
This year, Missouri came to Lincoln for the last time, ranked number 6, with a Gary Pinkel developed spread offense that ran all over Oklahoma last week. This week was a difference story, the Blackshirt defensive backs shut down Missouri's receivers and Blaine Gabbert had nowhere to throw it. It did help that Roy Helu ran three long touchdowns and racked up 307 yards on the ground and Nebraska's offense pounded Missouri's defense on the ground. Taylor Martinez was injured in the 1st half, but Zac Lee (one of my favorites) came in and ran things just fine during the second half. The defense looked very good, the best they have looked this year and the offense hearkened back to the Husker great offenses where every play could go for a touchdown. It will be interesting over the rest of the year.
I watched the Missouri game at home, instead of at the Union Pub, it was much more pleasant - - I didn't have to travel there and had a great seat on my couch for the game.
Fantasy Football update
I fell out of the King of the Hill pool: The Saints didn't win, so that's that.
In the Tim's Fantasy Football League I passed Wade up this week, but he has two trades left, so I am not sure if it will last. But, it was nice to come out of the basement and move past him into 7th place for a week. We'll see how it goes. Next year, I will have better wide receivers, which is what I say every year . . . .
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Not much, really
This week I was 4 for 4 on rides to work and back. I enjoy my new route, but there are a few things that are a little frustrating.
1. There are more red lights on the route. This requires a lot more rider kharma on my part, if I hit a few red lights early in the ride, I get a little frustrated and then get mad at later lights. If you miss a later light, more than likely I'll get stuck at subsequent lights. There is one series of lights just before the King Street Metro Station in Alexandria - - if I time things wrong I will hit three red lights in a row, then miss a couple more on Eisenhower Street. This happened on Tuesday, I got caught behind a bunch of cars at the King Street tunnel, missed the first light, missed the second light, hit the third green light (where I normally end up running a red light anyway) and then got stuck at three red lights in a row on Ike Street.
2. There is a Dunkin Donuts on the new route. This is the second bakery or bakery like store on my route. The first is a mystery bakery that I think makes donuts for grocery stores (generic donuts?), it is in an industrial area, there is no store, but I can certainly smell donuts and other good smelling stuff baking. I ride by that and think how good a donut would taste, then have to ride by the Dunkin Donuts (on Ead Street, just past 18th Street), I then have to think about how good a donut would be, with a cup of Dunkin Dark coffee.
One of these days I will take a few extra minutes to go find the mystery bakery and then maybe stop off for a quick cup of coffee at the Dunkin Donuts.
Husker update.
The Huskers dominated one of our annoying Big 12 North foes, kansas state. k-state used to be a doormat back in the Big 8 days, then they hired Bill Snyder. Somewhere along the way, Bill Snyder made a deal with the devil (nobody can attract quality athletes to the middle of nowhere, Manhattan, Kansas and put together a winning team without a little non-divine assistance) and started making k-state pretty good, and they occasionally beat the Huskers. This game was especially refreshing, Nebraska returned to the powerful ground game that made the Huskers great in the 90's, and we have found a quarterback that can run the offense. Taylor Martinez reminds me a lot of other Husker Legends - - Eric Crouch and Tommie Frazier, not only is he lightning quick and fast, he has a very accurate arm.
I am not quite sure we are a top 10 team, I'll hold of until we put texas in it's place and beat oklahoma state. After than, I am pretty sure we'll have another special team. Nebraska's defense is lightning quick and deep, our offensive line is back to the glory days and we have a QB. Should be interesting . . .
Fantasy Football Woes
Once again, I can't pick a group of 5 wide receivers, I can handle a QB that gets injured, or has a few bad games, but 5 gaping holes in my roster from divas that can't catch a ball (Michael Crabtree) or stay with a team (Randy Moss) or just don't show up (Sims-Walker?), that is tough to swallow. Luckily, I passed my niece (sorry Sid) and one of my brothers-in-law had a rough week, so, we'll see. For the record, I am not in last place.
1. There are more red lights on the route. This requires a lot more rider kharma on my part, if I hit a few red lights early in the ride, I get a little frustrated and then get mad at later lights. If you miss a later light, more than likely I'll get stuck at subsequent lights. There is one series of lights just before the King Street Metro Station in Alexandria - - if I time things wrong I will hit three red lights in a row, then miss a couple more on Eisenhower Street. This happened on Tuesday, I got caught behind a bunch of cars at the King Street tunnel, missed the first light, missed the second light, hit the third green light (where I normally end up running a red light anyway) and then got stuck at three red lights in a row on Ike Street.
2. There is a Dunkin Donuts on the new route. This is the second bakery or bakery like store on my route. The first is a mystery bakery that I think makes donuts for grocery stores (generic donuts?), it is in an industrial area, there is no store, but I can certainly smell donuts and other good smelling stuff baking. I ride by that and think how good a donut would taste, then have to ride by the Dunkin Donuts (on Ead Street, just past 18th Street), I then have to think about how good a donut would be, with a cup of Dunkin Dark coffee.
One of these days I will take a few extra minutes to go find the mystery bakery and then maybe stop off for a quick cup of coffee at the Dunkin Donuts.
Husker update.
The Huskers dominated one of our annoying Big 12 North foes, kansas state. k-state used to be a doormat back in the Big 8 days, then they hired Bill Snyder. Somewhere along the way, Bill Snyder made a deal with the devil (nobody can attract quality athletes to the middle of nowhere, Manhattan, Kansas and put together a winning team without a little non-divine assistance) and started making k-state pretty good, and they occasionally beat the Huskers. This game was especially refreshing, Nebraska returned to the powerful ground game that made the Huskers great in the 90's, and we have found a quarterback that can run the offense. Taylor Martinez reminds me a lot of other Husker Legends - - Eric Crouch and Tommie Frazier, not only is he lightning quick and fast, he has a very accurate arm.
I am not quite sure we are a top 10 team, I'll hold of until we put texas in it's place and beat oklahoma state. After than, I am pretty sure we'll have another special team. Nebraska's defense is lightning quick and deep, our offensive line is back to the glory days and we have a QB. Should be interesting . . .
Fantasy Football Woes
Once again, I can't pick a group of 5 wide receivers, I can handle a QB that gets injured, or has a few bad games, but 5 gaping holes in my roster from divas that can't catch a ball (Michael Crabtree) or stay with a team (Randy Moss) or just don't show up (Sims-Walker?), that is tough to swallow. Luckily, I passed my niece (sorry Sid) and one of my brothers-in-law had a rough week, so, we'll see. For the record, I am not in last place.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Well, it has been a couple of months
It has been a few months since I last did some typing here, so here yah go . . .
Because I still can't run comfortably, I have been riding my bike like crazy. I average about 120 miles a week, 4 times a week, everyday but Monday. On Mondays I lug in 5 T-shirts, 5 pairs of underwear, a bunch of veggie burgers and cheese for lunch, oatmeal for breakfast, bananas and carrots for snacks. Life gets pretty simple when you break it down like that I guess. I ride in each morning, do some push ups, pull ups and core exercises hit the showers with Tan Man and the Zombie then head off to work. My rides home in the afternoon are nice and relaxing, I actually spend the same amount of time riding to work and back as I would on the metro, but I have a lot more freedom and it is much more relaxing.
I have a couple of bike rack buddies, we chat some in the morning and talk about routes and such. One of them talked me into doing a century last month - - the Civil War Battlefield Century Ride.
http://www.civilwarcentury.com/
Pretty cool ride, it started off just north of DC in Thurmont, Maryland , went through an area where there were a lot of smaller Civil War skirmishes around South Mountain, crossed the Appalachian Trail (I took the pictures below when I hiked the AT last year with Andrew; one of the rest stops was right across the road from the Civil War Correspondent's Memorial) wound through Antietam Battlefield, close to Sharpsburg, MD, then up north into Pennsylvania, through Gettysburg (riding right past the field that Pickett charged across, Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard and Devil's Den) very cool ride, outside of some of the big old hills. There were some fierce climbs, but for every fierce climb there is a good scream downhill. This was the first time I ever hit 45 mph on my bike, very exhilarating.
This morning I discovered a new route to and from work, cutting a few miles off of my route, down from 16 to 14, which takes about 10 minutes or so off my time. There is a little more traffic, but that is ok. I spotted a few other riders on the way in, so I figure it is good to go.
Fantasy Football update:
I have climbed out of last place and passed my niece, Sydney. She picked her team based off of the names and how they all rhymed, so I am not sure that is much brag about. I am also in a King of the Hill league with Wade, so maybe I can last longer than him in that one.
I have started to look for a house to buy in the area, I will let you know how that goes. I am looking for a nice place with a nice kitchen a few large rooms and a nice bathroom. It also has to have a larger backyard for Sam and Cheney to poop in. Cheney update: Her blanketectomy is catching up with her. My vet here thinks that her pancreas was probably damaged during one of her stomach operations, so she has been going through serous bouts of diarrhea and lost a lot of weight. A few tests and pills later she is back to normal Cheney poop, not quite as optimal as Sam's, but much easier to scoop up than before.
Because I still can't run comfortably, I have been riding my bike like crazy. I average about 120 miles a week, 4 times a week, everyday but Monday. On Mondays I lug in 5 T-shirts, 5 pairs of underwear, a bunch of veggie burgers and cheese for lunch, oatmeal for breakfast, bananas and carrots for snacks. Life gets pretty simple when you break it down like that I guess. I ride in each morning, do some push ups, pull ups and core exercises hit the showers with Tan Man and the Zombie then head off to work. My rides home in the afternoon are nice and relaxing, I actually spend the same amount of time riding to work and back as I would on the metro, but I have a lot more freedom and it is much more relaxing.
I have a couple of bike rack buddies, we chat some in the morning and talk about routes and such. One of them talked me into doing a century last month - - the Civil War Battlefield Century Ride.
http://www.civilwarcentury.com/
Pretty cool ride, it started off just north of DC in Thurmont, Maryland , went through an area where there were a lot of smaller Civil War skirmishes around South Mountain, crossed the Appalachian Trail (I took the pictures below when I hiked the AT last year with Andrew; one of the rest stops was right across the road from the Civil War Correspondent's Memorial) wound through Antietam Battlefield, close to Sharpsburg, MD, then up north into Pennsylvania, through Gettysburg (riding right past the field that Pickett charged across, Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard and Devil's Den) very cool ride, outside of some of the big old hills. There were some fierce climbs, but for every fierce climb there is a good scream downhill. This was the first time I ever hit 45 mph on my bike, very exhilarating.
This morning I discovered a new route to and from work, cutting a few miles off of my route, down from 16 to 14, which takes about 10 minutes or so off my time. There is a little more traffic, but that is ok. I spotted a few other riders on the way in, so I figure it is good to go.
Fantasy Football update:
I have climbed out of last place and passed my niece, Sydney. She picked her team based off of the names and how they all rhymed, so I am not sure that is much brag about. I am also in a King of the Hill league with Wade, so maybe I can last longer than him in that one.
I have started to look for a house to buy in the area, I will let you know how that goes. I am looking for a nice place with a nice kitchen a few large rooms and a nice bathroom. It also has to have a larger backyard for Sam and Cheney to poop in. Cheney update: Her blanketectomy is catching up with her. My vet here thinks that her pancreas was probably damaged during one of her stomach operations, so she has been going through serous bouts of diarrhea and lost a lot of weight. A few tests and pills later she is back to normal Cheney poop, not quite as optimal as Sam's, but much easier to scoop up than before.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)