Happy Halloween!

So here's a little something for my male audience. No Halloween would be complete without women dressing up as sluts. And although NFL cheerleaders wear skimpy outifts every Sunday, the holiday provides that much more of an opportunity to dance around in costumes. God Bless America!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Ah, wake up and smell the pig skin! It's week 8; the halfway point in the regular season. Like the teams I watch each Sunday, it's time for me to get serious and find a strategy that's going to get me to the play offs. My posting has been a little inconsistent this month and I think it's because I've been focusing on giving the play by play on a few games. While this is helpful for learning the more subtle rules of the game and getting a handle on some players, it's also a little dry. I need to excite myself as I write! Which means that I need to bring back the player gossip, a little shopping, and some trash talking. I also must continue to comment on the games I watch closely, as this really is the best way to pick up plays and appreciate the game. And I have come to appreciate the game.
For example, last week Green Bay had a surprisingly difficult game against the Vikings. They were behind at the half 10-17 and then came back to score 2 touchdowns in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half. And players on each team had some amazing plays: Green Bay's Mason Crosby made a 58 yard field goal in the 3rd quarter, rookie Vikings QB Christian Ponder passed for 219 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Vikings defensive player Robison kicked Green Bay's TJ Lang in the balls. But Green Bay pulled out the win 33-27, and a lot of it was due to the total awesomeness of QB Aaron Rodgers. His stats are consistently on the rise. This year he's already passed for 2,372 yards, 20 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions. Beloved Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger has passed for 1,937 yards, 12 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He's beat out Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Eli Manning and Tony Romo so far this year. Unfortunately my Toxic Twins (Green Bay's defensive players Hawk & Matthews) didn't make it to the top 10 list for tackles.
Well, the early games have started in the time it took me to put together this little piece. You can look forward to some more frequent posting as we enter November. And as we get closer to the holidays I'll be sure to post some more NFLShop gems so as to help others purchase gifts for me.

Bears vs. Vikings

Another hometown rivalry & this time we killed 'em 39-10. Jay Cutler was on his game tonight, passing 48 yards to Hester for the first touchdown. The Bears made 3 plays, went 68 yards, and made a touchdown in the first 3 minutes of the game! And the momentum continued with 16 unanswered points in just the 1st quarter. One of the more interesting plays was when the Bears scored a safety by tackling Vikings QB Donovan McNabb in the end zone. After consulting Wikipedia, a safety is the only way the defensive team can score because they tackle, or lead the offensive team to score, in their own end zone. A safety is worth 2 points and is one of the more rare scores in football.
I had to leave the bar at halftime to head back home and I missed another big play of the game in the 3rd quarter. Hester ran 98 yards on a kickoff return to score another touchdown, and from the replay you can see that he runs right through a pack of players at the 20 yard line and no one can catch him. Unfortunately Hester got a chest injury in the 4th quarter and had to leave the game, but hopefully his skills will be back for week 7. Cutler ended up throwing for a total of 267 yards with no interceptions.
An extra bonus for me is that I will also win ultimate bragging rights this week against my man. In my Yahoo! Pro Pick 'Em league I chose the Bears over the Vikings. My man went with the Vikings due the Bears lackluster offensive performance this season in addition to a poor defense. But I had faith in our home field advantage, as the Vikings have lost the last 9 out of 10 games played against Chicago at Soldier Field. Guess who's logic prevailed?!
Alas my other picks weren't so great. I went against Vick and the Eagles this week, but they beat the Redskins 20-13. The Giants beat Buffalo and Detroit had their first loss of the season against San Francisco, in addition to a little scuffle between the coaches at the game's end. By now everyone has seen the replay of 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh getting excited after the win and slapping the Lions coach Jim Schwartz on the back with a handshake. You can actually see Schwartz say "What the fuck?" before running after Harbaugh. Unsportsmanlike conduct penalty anyone?

I'm Back!

I took a brief, unplanned hiatus these past 2 weekends. I watched all the games but I didn't take the time to write down my thoughts. Did you miss me?
Let's start with the Pittsburgh vs. Houston game on October 2nd. My man and I went down to the local watering hole and ate a giant breakfast and watched the games with the masses. It's near impossible to watch all the games simultaneously on 20 TVs while eating huevos rancheros. I had to pick my games wisely. The man was pretty upset by the Steelers performance and eventual loss to the Texans 17-10. But I got to put my new found knowledge to use. I don't know if it's possible to over use the term 3rd down conversion, but because I think it makes me sounds smart I try to repeat as much as humanly possible during each game. Examples: "Looks like they're going for a 3rd down conversion." "They didn't get that 3rd down conversion." What an awesome pass for a 3rd down conversion.".  Roethlisberger had a huge 3rd down conversion pass to Mike Wallace in the 2nd quarter of the game for  40 yards. We thought this would lead to a touchdown (and who doesn't think it will lead to a TD when you're only 12 yards from the end zone & have just 1 yard to go for a 1st down), but instead it led to a crazy ass field goal error when the Texans blocked the field goal attempt and then Houston's Johnathan Joseph ran to score a touchdown. Luckily, the the TD was recalled because of an illegal block in the back by the Texans Manning. Whew! The Steelers tied it up in the 3rd quarter, but due to incomplete passes, a sacking of Roethlisberger, and touchdown by Houston's Arian Foster in the 4th quarter we lost.
One positive that did come out of the game was learning about some new penalties. According to footballbabble.com, an illegal block in the back is when an offensive player blocks a defensive player from behind. So no pushing from behind when your team has the ball. (It is a pretty bitch move) I think my new favorite penalty though is "taunting". The Steelers Mike Wallace got a taunting call when he started shouting towards the Houston fans & players along the sideline after making a great play. This penalty falls under unsportsmanlike conduct, and is actually a 15 yard penalty. Personally, I don't think trash talking should be called a penalty. I think they should hook up mikes to the players and call it reality TV.