Two Items for Today

1. Somehow or another,

I don't believe this is part of

the War on Christmas. [sic]

2. Today is 12 - 4 - 15.

So, after last night's Hail Mary Miracle in Motown,

it wasn't a surprise to see this on Facebook

Go Pack, Go!

It's Morning- Has It Started Yet?

Naturally I mean the Super Bowl. Seahawks and Patriots. I'm kind of afraid to take sides. Like most sports fans I tend to be superstitious. I have had a terrible record over the years with my favorite sports teams. They lose. Often. It makes me worry that it's my support for them that does it.

Okay- I know that I'm not that powerful. If I was, I would hire myself out to the team willing to pay me the highest salary to root against them so they would win. But if you are a true Seahawk fan, don't blame me when they lose today.

Which I am afraid they are going to do. I don't want them to, of course. The Patriots, in my pantheon of disliked teams, are just a little lower than the 1st place tie of the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys and only slightly above Dah Bears. It would be a joy to see Russell Wilson (with UW Badgers connections!) take them down like he did my beloved Packers. Even if he believes God wills them to win, I think God remains on the sidelines. If they lose, will that mean God wanted the Patriots better? Nah. Never.

But these are the Patriots. I don't trust them. I don't want to see them win. No, they are probably not the incarnation of the Evil One, but let them lose! Let it be fair and square. Let the Seahawks take over the field and never let it go.

But the hype is almost over. This is scheduled to post at 9:00 am. The hype should be all queued up and ready to go. The hours of interviews, cute pieces, up-close-and-personal moments, the hundreds of camera angles and books full of things to say in any situation are all there.

So, in fear of losing the whole state of Washington as readers of my blog:

Go Seahawks!

Ready for Tomorrow

I expect it to be a very tough game. The Seahawks are a strong team and heavy favorites in tomorrows NFC Championship game. But even playing hurt, there's no one like Aaron Rodgers.

Needless to say:

My Guilty Pleasure

A guilty pleasure is something one enjoys and considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it.
--Wikipedia

Thanks to author Steve Almond, I can say I am one of the millions who have a pleasure we should feel guilty about.

Simply put, it is NFL football.

I am hooked. The adrenaline pumps when the music starts. The great green field with the white lines is a visual stimulus that gets the heart going. I wear the team tie on most game days and make sure the team hat is handy. Sometimes I'm a little more subtle and simply wear the team colors without the logo. Even college football has its exciting place in my life. In all of this I am not alone.

Football has become America's game. Baseball, my #1 favorite sport, has lost its top spot, though it is still the National Game. No one can beat the Boys of Summer. But that's a different guilty pleasure.

Football fits the bill when it comes to feeling guilty. Author Almond, a self-confessed football fan, lists all the reasons in his book, Against Football: One Fan's Reluctant Manifesto. There's the monopoly the NFL has developed. Oh- a tax-exempt monopoly. There's the way the NFL gets cities to give tax breaks and tax money to NFL owners to build new stadiums. On his web page you will find these three questions that pretty much sum it up:

• What does it mean that our society has transmuted the intuitive physical joys of childhood—run, leap, throw, tackle—into a billion-dollar industry?
• How did a sport that causes brain damage become the leading signifier of our institutions of higher learning?
• Does our addiction to football foster a tolerance for violence, greed, racism, and homophobia?

In looking into these issues Almond presents information that indicts the sport's leaders, the team owners, the politicians who fit so nicely into the teams' back pockets, and a nation that has helped make all this possible. That, unfortunately includes me.

Sidenote: This is being written on Monday evening as I am (yes, you already know) watching the Packer game on ESPN. I stop typing when the play gets intense. It is a closer game than I want it to be. My Pack will win, I am sure, but why do they have to make it so difficult for me. Oh, I even used a football picture last Wednesday for one of my Advent devotional pictures. Shame on me.

I have absolutely no idea how to change this without government intervention. Our individual and national addiction to the game(s) will probably keep the NFL (and other football genres) at he top of their "game" and we will truly be the losers. No one of us alone can do it- and it's a tough road ahead of anyone who wants to bring some sanity to any of our professional sports. It may sadly take a major disaster or death before anything is done and any investigations be held.

The recent Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson problems are nothing in the great scheme of the NFL. Hopefully the owners own greed may be tempered before they hurt some people very seriously.

Yes, I will continue to watch. (The Packers won last evening. Of course!) The Super Bowl is on my calendar. I will watch and not just for the commercials (which are, in this context, like the articles in Playboy.) The game is the thing. But I will be aware of the guilty pleasure it has become.

For the Record This Weekend:

 

Go Lehigh   

On Wisconsin

Go, Pack, Go

 

Speaking of College

This is a big weekend in New York City. Saturday, at Yankee Stadium, two college teams will meet in the most-played college football rivalry. This will be the 150th game between Lehigh and Lafayette.

The first game was played in 1884, and at times they have met twice/year.

Look at that outrageous price for tickets in 1884.


It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway.

Go Lehigh!

Before This Day Ends....

...It might not be snowing in Green Bay and the tundra has not yet frozen...

...But football season will have begun in the Pacific Northwest as the Packers play the Seahawks.

Frozen Tundra from Oliver Würffell on Vimeo.

Yep! Go, Pack. Go!

A Tale of Two Hats

I have two baseball-type hats that I like to wear. In recent weeks I have discovered that which one I wear can have a significant impact on those around me.

I have been in "neutral" territory- i.e. neither Minnesota nor Wisconsin. Alabama has no professional baseball team of their own and I don't think their football teams (Alabama and Auburn) play in the NFL. So the team logo should make very little difference.  What I have discovered is that people respond differently, in general, depending on which one I wear.



Actually, it is probably more correct to say they respond when I wear one and only a select few respond when I wear the other.

Therefore I have started calling them my extrovert or introvert hats.

If I am willing to talk to people I wear the Packer hat. There is a mystique about the Packers that I truly believe has made them the real America's team. People start talking about the days of Starr or Hornung. They wonder if the Pack will be back this year, etc.

If I want to remain quiet and introverted all I need is the Twins hat. Only other Minnesotans will say anything then, and usually some snide remarks about our favorite Twinkies. (Sometimes even a dig at the Vikings is added.) In general, though, Minnesota Nice prevails and we end up talking about other things- usually the weather in Minnesota- if we talk about anything.

I know this won't work at home. Either hat will bring a possible discussion, but in Sweet Home Alabama, it's a different ballgame.

And I am not buying an Alabama or Auburn hat. Way too dangerous.

Let's Get On With Spring Now

Well, that's over for another year. As a true Green and Gold Packer fan, it wasn't as good a game as might have been otherwise hoped, but as Super Bowls go, it was, well, a Super Bowl. If you are a Seahawk fan.

Bronco fans? Not so much. MVP Peyton Manning and his Broncos were just plain out-matched, out-played and out and out embarrassed. When the TV team ignores the game for most of the 4th quarter you know  it wasn't worth watching.

So for next year, a head start: Go Pack. Go!

Oh yes, the commercials? Eh, so-so. Some fun, some weird, nothing much outstanding there, either, in my not so humble opinion. Only Coca-Cola hit it out of the park with it's America ad and Chevy came in close 2nd with its cancer awareness ad.

With all that hype etc. behind us, it's time to move on.

It's time to get ready.

Only 13 days until pitchers and catchers report. No, I'm not trying to rush the season. Well, maybe I am after the past two months of winter. But one has to get ready for the 162 games from April through the end of September, including an All-Star Game in Minneapolis this year.

So the football is history. Rants and records and controversy and lots of fun. But let's now get on with spring. The world moves on.

Closing the Dome

It was a cold and windy day- well- at least it wasn't the start of a bad novel. Sunday, December 29, 2013 was the day for the last game - ever - at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The Vikings were closing the place down after 32 seasons. We were there for the last Twins game, so why not the last Vikings game?

Noise!!!  One of the hallmarks of the Dome. On 3rd down, for the opposing team, of course, it was time for noise. Most fans didn't need to be reminded, but, hey, that's part of the hype.

I wonder what the Viking will do for the next couple years when the team will be playing outside at TCF Bank Stadium at the U?

I have a hunch he'll still be standing around like this. I know I won't be there in the cold to watch.

Two touchdowns kept the crowd noise up, needless to say.

No. Those are not some new-fangled blue plastic handcuffs the officer is holding. They are old-fangled blue plastic cup holders that have been attached to the seats. Some adventurous person, now  being arrested, had decided he wanted a souvenir. Maybe a copy of the ticket he will be paying will make up for the loss of the cup holders.

There was the presence of security. These yellow-garbed event staff calmly walked around the field as the fourth quarter began.


They were not going to allow any stray fans to get on the field. No destruction was going to happen today. I guess it's a Metrodome version of take only pictures, leave only everything else.

Within the next couple weeks the demolition will begin. The Metrodome will go the way of the old Metropolitan Stadium or some of the other iconic stadiums around the country.

I have only been to four football games at the Dome, but it was a fun place. (I saw Brett Favre play for the Packers and set a record here.) I for one am glad that the new stadium will have a roof. It was cold last Sunday (didn't get above 0 degrees F.) with a bitter windchill. 

The new stadium will be in the same place. I may never be able to afford tickets to see my Packers play the Vikings in the new stadium, but at least the old Dome gave me that chance.

But perhaps my greatest memory of the Metrodome for me will  be the first time I ever set foot under that inflated Teflon. It was Friday, June 30, 2000. The Twins were on the road, but over 50,000 people gathered in the Dome for the Flag Ceremony and Open Meeting for the 65th Anniversary International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous. Over 50,000 SOBER people cheering and celebrating. The bars in town were not happy, but we were.

Here's the link to my post in 2009 after the last Twins game.

Oh Well.

Lafayette 50
Lehigh 28

It was a tough loss in this most played rivalry in college football. This was game #149. (Wikipedia info on The Rivalry.) Game 100 was two years before my freshman year. In my four years there the record was split with two wins each. Lehigh was also known as The Engineers in those days. They became The Mountain Hawks in the 1995-96 school year.

Next year will be game #150. Because of the historic significance (?) that game will be played in 52 weeks (11/22/14) at....

(are you ready for this?)

Yankee Stadium.

Wow!

Sidebar: The most played rivalry in Division I football also has my interest. That's Wisconsin vs. Minnesota. They played game #123 yesterday.
Badgers 20
Gophers 7

Rivalry #3 for the weekend later today
Go Packers!

Go Mountain Hawks!

Go Lehigh!

Beat Lafayette

The 149th meeting of these two... 

the most played rivalry in college football.

Not From The Onion?

You can imagine why I would think this was from The Onion and not the news:

Rams called Brett Favre

Was it for real? Who knows. But if they did, THAT is desperation. Actually the Rams say:

“It was just a joke,” a team source told NFL.com. “It was just a throwaway line. Doesn’t anyone have a sense of humor? (Link)

Sadly, this is also NOT from The Onion.

Brett Favre admits some memory loss since retirement

He said that he couldn't remember his daughter playing soccer. Then the real quote that names the danger:

"I think after 20 years, God only knows the toll that will be taken as time goes by," Favre told Andy Pollin and Jonny Saraceno on SportsTalk 570 in Washington D.C. on Thursday morning. (Link)

Yes, one can say he was partly to blame. He played through the injuries, perhaps not admitting to the signs of concussion. He had one goal- to be the best and keep at it even when he shouldn't have. No, the NFL is not a parent protecting children.

But it has become more and more clear over the past few years that the NFL as well as our overall sports culture plays into the picture as well. They (and we) have often minimized and even downright denied the real dangers. Now it's coming into the open. 

I'm as guilty as any sports fan, of course. Favre gave me many a wonderful Sunday afternoon and a Super Bowl win for the Packers. No one of us made him do it, but there are enough fans like me whose very presence and response encourages the behavior and attitude.

I am glad the NFL and many others are now doing something about it. I am just sorry it wasn't sooner. 

(Sidenote to Greg: Brett? Brett who?)

Yep! It's Packer Time.

Go Pack! Go!

The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League. (In case you didn't know.)

Way to Go AP

You all know I am a Packer fan. But I do live in Minnesota- and I know excellence when I see it.



Over four years ago I first saw Adrian Peterson play football at The Metrodome against the Packers. I was in awe at that point. He just looked like one of those players that you couldn't stop.

He has continued to show that quality and explosive ability. This past season, less than 9 months after major surgery, he came back and took over the league. What a joy to watch someone that good at the top of his game- even against my Packers.

It is good to know he was recognized as he was named NFL's MVP and Offensive Player of the year.

Congratulations, AP. Keep it up, (except against the Pack, of course.)

Now Back to Life... Already in Progress

An interesting, and perhaps notable game last evening.

Green Bay 31
San Francisco 45

Packers end another winning season, Northern Division Champs.

But last night, watching Colin Kaepernick rewrite football history was something else. You don't expect quarterbacks to do that kind of rushing. He was unstoppable because defense wasn't designed to stop a running QB. As they said on the post-game show, we may look back in ten years at this season as the one that changed pro football again. A new "West Coast Offense."

The other irony:
SF's quarterback grew up a Packer fan in Milwaukee.
Green Bay's quarterback grew up in California as a SF fan.

Just thought I would add that.

In any case, for us Packer fans, the season is over. Thanks guys for a good season. And a probable farewell to Greg Jennings (who scored the last TD of the season) and Donald Driver. Thanks to you two as well!

Time now to count the days until Opening Day.

And that magic number is only

78!

Can't Resist

Packer fans are nothing, if not loyal.

Therefore, with a game tonight, how can I not post this again:

Get Some Flowers for Your Hair

Go Pack! Go!

Minnesota Vikings 10
Green Bay Packers 24

Next up: San Francisco 49ers.
Next Saturday.

Challenging the NCAA

The Governor of Pennsylvania is suing the NCAA for its incredibly harsh penalties against Penn State in reaction to the Jerry Sandusky child rape and molestation case. Gov. Corbett who was the Attorney-General who started the investigation. He says that the penalties against Penn State do not "punish" the wrong-doers but rather the current students and athletes, businesses and the residents of Pennsylvania.

I have a hunch he is right. There needs to be a better way to deal with this than to strip all current students and athletes of football. There has to be a better way for Penn State to be held accountable as an institution and to call them into responsibility to prevent this from happening again and to make restitution.

Yes, the University was very negligent in the handling of the case from the word "Go!"

Yes, Joe Paterno (a remarkable coach who began to believe his own PR) was very negligent in his role in the fiasco.

And of course, Jerry Sandusky deserves to be locked up for the rest of his unnatural life. And then some.

But let's be real. The students who are there today, the football players who came to Penn State to play football, should not be penalized. Yes, there are some real MAJOR issues in the NFL Semi-pro farm system college football world. But don't make Penn State the only scapegoat. Lots needs to be done.

But not at the expense of those who have had no part in it and are probably as repulsed by it as the rest of us.

The Last for a Long While

12*12*12

A day when

Day*Month*Year or
Month*Day*Year or
Year*Month*Day

are all the same happens 12 times a century. 12 out of 36,500(+) days in 100 years. It won't happen again until 01/01/2101.

So, for all us Packer fans, this IS a day to celebrate.

It is Aaron Rodgers Day.