In two hours the NFL regular season starts. The defending Super Bowl champs, Pittsburgh Steelers, take on the Miami Dolphins. This could be an interesting game. The Steelers are with out their glory boy QB Ben Roethlisberger. This may give the Dolphins a much-needed break in tonightÂ’s game to pull off a victory.

As soon as Ktreva gets home from work IÂ’m off to a kick-off party. Hopefully itÂ’s the first of many football parties IÂ’m able to attend this year. So if you havenÂ’t made your picks or roster changes yet, you have slightly less than two hours to make them.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:39 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Boopie had his first football game last night. He had aspirations of being a running back; at this time the coaches have him playing special teams. HeÂ’s on the kicking teams, both kicking and returns. HeÂ’s not a kicker; heÂ’s one of the blockers/defenders. HeÂ’s a little disappointed, but he has a good attitude about it. HeÂ’s happy heÂ’s getting to play on the varsity team.

He did a pretty good job, he was in the right place at the right times. He also tried to make a couple of big plays. Unfortunately, most of the other players are bigger then he is and he was more of speed bump then anything else. Which does help in slowing down the other team. There was one play where he was trying to get to the other teams returner. A kid that was about 50 pounds heavier and 8 inches taller laid a hit on him that sent Boopie flying back 3 yards. I was about 40 yards away from the play and I could hear the hit clear as a bell. I kid you not when I say Boopie bounced when he hit the ground. He hit and bounced up a good 5 inches.

The first thing that went through my head was, “I’m damn glad Ktreva was taking Clone to the bathroom and didn’t see that hit.” The second was, “I don’t think he’s going to get up after that.” Folks, let me tell you something, the boy surprised me. He’s a small guy, but he can take the hit. Being quick and agile, he was back up on his feet. The defender that hit him had left him for dead on the field. Boopie was able to get to the returner and slow him down enough so that one of his teammates could get in and make the tackle.

I was proud of him. He took his lumps, and shrugged it off with out thinking about it during the game. After the game is a different story, but IÂ’ll take that. He knew that during the game was not time to complain or show weakness. During tonightÂ’s practice, the assistant coach used him as an example of how to handle a hard hit during the game. His team ended up losing, which he took rather badly. We had a talk about good sportsmanship. Being a good sport isnÂ’t just about not bragging when you win, but accepting it when you lose. You learn from the loss and try to improve, not complain about it.

He may just be a football star yet.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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ItÂ’s only pre-season, itÂ’s only pre-season. I just have to keep that in mind. ItÂ’s only pre-season.

However, I do think itÂ’s time for McCarthy to pull Favre and give Aaron Rodgers a chance to play. We need to see if he has anything thatÂ’s worth all the hype that Green Bay has given him.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:07 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Come one, come all. A week ago I posted that the Pool was started. Now today I have the pleasure of announcing that the Sal Cap (Fantasy) football league has started. If you are interested in playing and I missed you on the invite, drop me a line and IÂ’ll send you one.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:24 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Jealous?

Yea, I would be too.

October 8th Green Bay, Wisconsin. I'm already excited. If anyone wants to meet for a drink or two before or after the game, let me know!

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ItÂ’s almost August, that means pre-season. Some of you may remember I had an on-line pool run through Yahoo. Well, IÂ’m going to do it again this year. ItÂ’s free to join, all you need is a Yahoo account. If you are interested in joining let me know, and IÂ’ll send you an invite. All I need is your e-mail address. If you participated last year, you should have received an invite already. The winner has bragging rights and receives a small prize of nominal cost from me.

Ogre won last year, IÂ’m wondering if heÂ’ll be able to repeat his performance.

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No, he doesnÂ’t have a girlfriend. HeÂ’s playing NFL Flag Football. Last Saturday the coach had him playing linebacker and had him doing pass rushing. Since they donÂ’t have an offensive line, he has to stay at least 7 yards back from where the ball is being hiked, and then he can blitz the Quarterback. HeÂ’s quick and agile on his feet, and was doing a good job of hurrying the QB. The problem is that about 2 feet from the guy he would slow down and not go for the flag. There was at least 4 different occasions that if he committed to grabbing the flag, he would have gotten a sack.

When I asked him why, he told me that he was worried that heÂ’d make a mistake and the QB would make a big play. I tried explaining to him that by not going for the flag, he was allowing the Quarterback to still make a play. Those can easily turn into big plays too. Tonight, after breaking more concrete up, we ran some drills in the back yard. I had him work on grabbing the flag. Then we worked on short range sprinting, and finally we worked on pass blocking and catching. Hey if he can make the interception, thatÂ’s just as good!

I didnÂ’t work him too long. The point is for him to have fun. Not to hate the game, I donÂ’t want to be THAT dad. You know, the one that is at the games berating their kid because he didnÂ’t follow through. At home they work on drills and practice 4 hours a night, besides the team practice. IÂ’m sure weÂ’ve all seen a dad like that. In fact I knew a kid in High School whoÂ’s dad was so bad that he wouldnÂ’t let his son go out with his friends on the weekend. They had to practice. The guy was convinced his son was going to be the first kid from our High School to get recruited to Notre Dame. Unfortunately the kid ended up breaking his leg the second game of the season his senior year. The last I heard he never played football again, well at least not during college and definitely not in the pros.

ThatÂ’s not how I want to be. I want to help Boopie and encourage him. Work with him to improve his game. What I donÂ’t want to do is drive the fun or the love of playing out of him. When he gets older I donÂ’t want him to resent me for making him practice all the time. We wonÂ’t practice tomorrow night, unless he asks. Wednesday he has his normal team practice, and after that weÂ’ll crush more rock. Right now I just like watching him play. Seeing him have fun on the field is more important then him being the strongest player on the team. IÂ’d rather keep it that way.

Oh, and I did cheese one father off at the game on Saturday. I was talking to another dad and we didn’t understand some of the rules. (Like no rushing from with in 5 yards of the end zone, etc) He made the comment along the lines of, “It’s so the kids don’t get hurt.” I responded with, “Yea, I guess that makes sense. I mean, it is flag football; it’s not like real football. This is the football you put your kid into because they are too frail to play tackle.” (Boopie is a small guy and would get killed in tackle. In fact many of the kids would get crushed playing tackle) One of THOSE fathers overheard what I said and got a little agitated. Apparently he didn’t like the fact his son was not a starting safety for the Bears.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:26 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Yesterday Boopie turned 13. As his father I felt it was my duty to start him on some of the rites of manhood. The best way to do this was with a guyÂ’s night out. After spending two weeks explaining to Ktreva why she and Clone could not come with, I started making plans. ItÂ’s a guyÂ’s night out, thatÂ’s not Guys and MOM! We started off the evening at Hooters. With the help of a couple of fellow bloggers, Shadoglare and T1G, we started the evening out right. Pretty girls, hot wings and instructional advice on the Man Code were given to Boopie by the three of us. We also gave advice on how to pick up and deal with girls.

So about right now some of the ladies out there are probably thinking to themselves, “Good lord, what kind of horrible advice did they give?” Let me tell you this, it was all good, sound advice that hopefully he retains. Trust me, the now man was in good hands.

Speaking of good hands, while at Hooters Boopie received a T-shirt autographed by all the girls and had his picture taken with them as well. I’d love to tell you the rest, however, the man code prohibits the telling of stories in this type of situation. That and a panicked “Don’t tell mom!” on the ride home has rendered my unable to speak about it.

After dinner we separated our ways from T1G and Shadoglare. They went on their way, and we headed to the Rock River Raptors game. Boopie was surprised by how good of seats I have. He knew they where good, but he didnÂ’t realize that they where upfront and in your face! Boopie participated in the half-time mini-football toss. Unfortunately he didnÂ’t win.

My favorite player on the team, Jeremiah Thompson (Number 25 in your program, number 1 in your heart) played last night. I know the web page says his number is 18, but trust me people, it's actually 25. I told him it was Boopie's 13th Birthday and he promised Boopie he would get 13 receptions and 2 touchdowns for him. Well, he didn’t get the thirteen receptions, but he did get two and half touchdowns. One of his catches he dove over the end zone wall, so it didn’t count. That’s why I’m counting it as half a touchdown. If our Quarterback hadn’t overthrown the ball, it would have been a good touchdown! The best part was that after his first touchdown, as he was running back to the bench, Thompson pointed to Boopie and said, “That one is for you.” It made Boopie’s evening to say he had a TD scored just for him.

Today the celebration is over and I have to deal with the fact that IÂ’m old enough to have a teenager. You have to understand, half the time I feel like IÂ’m still 16. Gah, IÂ’m just getting old.

Posted by: Contagion at 09:43 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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I took Ktreva to see the Rock River Raptors play tonight. They won 60 something to 30 something. I ‘d give you exact numbers but I’m a little on the inebriated side. I’m still nurshing my nuts and all.

Ktreva claims to have had a wonderful time. I know I did. I even have an official football that was used in the game now! How cool is that! Trust me people, if you live anywhere near the Rockford, Illinois area, itÂ’s worth going to see them play. And before anyone accuses me of having stakes in the team, I donÂ’t. I just own season tickets.

Did I mention that I have an official football?

Posted by: Contagion at 10:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sorry, itÂ’s been an action packed weekend for me. Well at least Saturday was action packed. Sunday was more like a redneck homoerotic gay wrestling fest. That, however, is a separate post. This post is about my Saturday night adventure, the home opener of the Rock River Raptors. Being an avid football fan IÂ’m going to do a complete review of my first arena football game.

As part of football there is a great tradition, a tradition that every football loving human, male or female, participates in. That’s right, tailgating. That is unless you live in Rockford, Illinois where they won’t let you grill in the parking deck, even on the top of it. The only tailgating option you had was to go into the Metro Center and attend their sTailgate party. Anyone that has met me knows that I will shell out $10.00 for a beer at a various events; here it was only $4.50… for a 12 oz plastic bottle of Miller Lite. Which I had to hunt down because the outside sTailgate area only had Bud Light. I’ll drink Bud and Bud light, but not if there’s a choice and I’m paying for it. The only reason this irks me is that I can get a 22 oz Miller Light at Lambeau Field for $5.00. I can get the same 12 oz bottle for $4.00 at Lambeau Field. For those of you that don’t know, Lambeau is where the Green Bay Packers play, you know the NFL. The event food coordinator at the Metro Center thinks really highly of their venue. For clarification, the Raptors have NOTHING to do with the food and beverage service. I’d review the food, but it was also obnoxiously expensive AND from what I heard people saying, small portions and not good. They wanted $4.50 for a bratwurst… dammit, that’s a beer! Thus I didn’t eat. I know for the next game I’m going to a strip club first to do some “tail”-gazing before the game. The beer is cheaper and the entertainment has got to be better.

The tailgating and food was the only down side of my experience. The rest was fantastic. The field is 50 yards long; my seats are right on the 20. IÂ’m 5 yards from mid-field. I was supposed to have seats at the 25, but the person selling tickets didnÂ’t realize the field was going to be 5 yards off center when she sold me them. IÂ’m in the first row, right behind the Raptor bench. During the game I could lean over the glass partition and talk with the players. Okay, let me rephrase that, I did lean over the glass and annoyed the players. Since there are different rules, I would ask one of the players what was going on. It was great! The only problem with my seats was that when the highway robbers beer vendors would walk down, they wouldnÂ’t go all the way to the bottom, so I didnÂ’t see them when they would walk down the stairs along my section. Yes, the game was that intense that I was more concerned about the game then beer. (Mark that day on your calendar.)

The game itself was fast paced. There are only 8 men on the field at a time, but being a smaller field; if they had more there would be no room for them to do anything. As it was people were being driven into the walls and flipping into the crowds. That reminds me, any balls that are tipped, thrown or kicked into the stands; the fan that catches it gets to keep. No, I didnÂ’t get one, but not for a lack of trying. The fans in the end zones seemed to get a lot of free balls. ThereÂ’s no net for field goals, point after attempts and kick offs. Some long passes even went into the stands.

With it being indoors, I thought the game wouldnÂ’t be as rough. Was I even wrong. These guys would hit the players so hard you could feel the impact into the walls and carpet covered concrete floors all the way into the stands. On the first play of the game one of the opposing teams players was hit so hard, he laid on the floor sucking air for a good 20 minutes. Later in the game a player was slammed into the wall right in front of me so hard it rattled my seat. I could see the snot bubbles coming out of his nose!

Yes, that is the wall the guy is diving into!

The only down part of the game was that the Raptors lost in a blow out, 46-20. Sure it would have been more fun if they had won, itÂ’s always more fun when your team wins. Either way it was a great game, great time and I canÂ’t wait until the next home game. If anyone lives in the Rockford area and wants to see some good off NFL season football, IÂ’d recommend it. The ticket prices arenÂ’t bad, $27.00, $17.00 and $12.00 depending on the seat location. Trust me, itÂ’s worth the priceÂ… just eat before you go.

Oh, and the cheerleaders aren't bad either.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:01 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Things at work are the sameÂ… so IÂ’m not going to go into any more detail on it.

In other news, this Saturday is the home opener for the Rock River Raptors, the indoor football leage that I have season tickets for. IÂ’m looking forward to the game. Ktreva tried to find a sitter so she could go with to the game. She wasnÂ’t able to find one, so IÂ’m taking one of my friends from work. Not an employee, I think that would be improper. That and I donÂ’t believe any of them like football, let alone would want to spend a Saturday night with their boss. Then again if my boss were like me, IÂ’d want to hang out with him.

Today on lunch I was finally able to find a handgun that Ktreva likes, so we bought it. ItÂ’s a Walther PPK .380. Watch out guys, my wife has the James Bond Gun! ItÂ’s a nice little handgun that should fit her perfectly.

Click to Enlarge

Unfortunately due to the laws in Illinois we can pay for it today, but we canÂ’t pick it up until Saturday. That means that some weekend coming up IÂ’m going to have to take my wife to the range to shoot. To be honest, it doesnÂ’t have a bad feel. IÂ’ll probably end up putting a couple hundred rounds through it.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:26 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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1 Beautiful weapon, where did you happen to find it and was it a good price?

Now if you can get this state to allow conceil/carry!
DKK

Posted by: LifeTrek at March 29, 2006 07:05 PM (kPKKs)

2 I am so jealous! I still have at least two months to wait until my short barreled rifle transfer paperwork clears the ATF so I can get my anniversary present, a Thompson WWII replica with a 10.5 inch barrel.
It is semi auto only, but I have been wanting one since Saving Private Ryan came out.
I know it is heavy for a girl, but we have so many 45's around the house, it is an economical choice.

Have Ketreva give us a review....

Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at March 29, 2006 07:37 PM (AppCG)

3 I am soooo screwing with you......

Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at March 29, 2006 09:55 PM (AppCG)

4 Sweet. I bet you paid a mint for it. I'm indeed jealous.

Heck, our indoor football league team just went bankrupt and collapsed!

Posted by: Ogre at March 30, 2006 06:54 AM (/k+l4)

5 .380 is a good girly round. Did you have to buy her shoes and a purse to match?

Posted by: Dr. Phat Tony at March 30, 2006 09:10 AM (fk/lm)

6 oooo, shiny!

Posted by: Oddybobo at March 30, 2006 10:13 AM (6Gm0j)

7 DPT: She's a woman... what do you want? That and even though a lot of people like to make fun of the .380. It still kills people dead.

Posted by: Contagion at March 30, 2006 05:52 PM (e8b4J)

8 Ok - I'm kinda slow but I just realized the title of this post is the tag line for Miss Congeneality (sp) Pt II.

And I gotta tell you - it scares me that I even know that.

But it's fitting. Knowing your wife - it's fitting....

Posted by: Tammi at March 30, 2006 07:00 PM (lfQya)

9 Jeeze lil nessas got her own gun, and I've never even fired one. I feel like such a girlie-man

Posted by: Shadoglare at March 30, 2006 08:35 PM (sZ6HQ)

10 Walther PPK -- great gun! A .380 round will still get the job done, too.

Posted by: Wes at March 30, 2006 10:35 PM (XKQLY)

11 Preeeeeeety.
And a .380 is a little poochy, but it beats a fist full of car keys or a rolled up newspaper!

Posted by: jimmyb at March 31, 2006 04:46 AM (dmk/4)

12 I keep telling you Shadoglare, we need to drag you to the range.

I'll let you pop off some rounds of 7.62X54R and shoot the .44 magnum

Posted by: Graumagus at April 01, 2006 12:06 PM (MTGPe)

13 All it takes is an invite And of course I'd pay for any ammo I go thru.

Posted by: Shadoglare at April 02, 2006 10:31 AM (25QAQ)

14 Well done!
My homepage | Please visit

Posted by: Lionel at May 14, 2006 01:12 AM (WNQk5)

15 testcomment

Posted by: testname at August 13, 2006 06:25 AM (hIEhY)

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Yesterday was spent watching the Super Bowl. I didnÂ’t have a horse in the race so I didnÂ’t really care, but I just love football. Since October I had been predicting that the Seahawks where going to make it to the big game, but I didnÂ’t think they would win. I had predicted Indy to make it and take the prize. When the Steelers knocked out Indy, I thought it was a fluke and that Seattle would win. Well We all know how wrong I was on that one! Its okay, the Steelers didnÂ’t win by 25 points so I have a crisp new $10.00 in my wallet.

IÂ’m just going to start by saying IÂ’m very disappointed in the officiating during the game. Every Steelers fan IÂ’ve talked to thought it was okay and every Seahawk fan IÂ’ve talked to thought it was poor. FanÂ’s of other teams are torn, but more of the ones IÂ’ve talked to agree with me that there where some pretty bad calls made or in some cases, not made during the game.

Some of the bigger calls I saw made that I disagree with are:

1) BenÂ’s touchdown. IÂ’m sorry but that ball did not break the plain until after he was down. However, they may claim there was not enough evidence to overturn the call. I think they are wrong.

2) The complete lack of offside calls against the Steelers. CÂ’mon these guys where not only blatantly jumping the gun on a lot of plays, but in at least three, they had people lined up in the neutral zone. (Some will say that the Steelers had the cadence down. Except the ball hadnÂ’t been snapped when they where crossing the line.)

3) We have yet another case of delay of game not being called, apparently in the playoffs you have an extra 2 seconds too snap the ball. On one the Time Out was called AFTER the clock was to 0.

4) Holding calls inconsistently called. On the Seattle comeback drive, they called holding against Seattle, which barely met the textbook definition of holding. Yet on other plays, there where holds that are more blatant being done and not called, including on a certain 75 yard run.

Before I go into the next play I question, I want to remind all of my readers that the little read and yellow lines on the field are not OFFICIAL. They are added by the networks to assist the viewers on the play. IÂ’ve seen games where the lines have been off up to 3 yards, heck even the announcers will tell you they can be off by as much as 3 yards. On one of BenÂ’s passes, IÂ’m not so sure he wasnÂ’t past the line of scrimmage. I only caught the side angle of the play once (when it first happened) and it sure looked like he was past it. I never saw any of the replays from the same angle that included the sideline markers. IÂ’m not saying this is a call that should be made; IÂ’d just like to have seen that from a different angle so there was no doubt in my mind.

I can already hear some of you asking, “Are you trying to imply the ref’s and officials where against the Seahawks? What are you, some kind of conspiracy theorist?” No, I’m not saying that at all. I did however watch the game with someone that did and was convinced of it. All through out the game he kept saying it was a conspiracy in the NFL to keep the NFC from winning. The Colts/Steelers game was even used as an example. His belief is that the NFL wanted the Colts in the Super Bowl, but since the Steelers beat the colts by overcoming the NFL’s interference, the NFL decided to back the Steelers. He didn’t find it amusing when I made a tinfoil beanie for him to wear. But that was probably because it had chili-cheese dip on it when I put it on his head. (It was made from the foil covering they used to cover the dip with.) What I’m implying is that there were some bad calls made, and in every game, there is.

At least one penalty could be called on every play in a game. The Officials are humans, they make mistakes, I can forgive mistakes. I just want them to be consistent. If they are going to call ticky-tack holding calls, call them on both teams. If youÂ’re going to ignore offside calls, then maybe they should ignore false starts as well. After all the controversy around bad calls made during the post season this year, I would have thought the NFL would have done everything to ensure that the biggest game of the year was called properly.

I actually thought it was a good game. I don’t like high scoring games. A great defensive game is more fun to watch in my opinion. The commercials bored me, there where only a couple that I thought where amusing and/or interesting. During halftime, I almost went into a rage. I was pissed that the NFL brought in the living dead to perform. Then someone told me that the Stone’s hadn’t died yet and it calmed me down. One of my friends I was watching the game with was in the band and he made this statement: “If this was my band and we sounded like the way the Stone’s are right now, people would tell us we suck.” He was right, they sounded horrible and I was less then whelmed by the power of the performance.

One last game of the season, the Pro-Bowl. Now I need to find a Pro-Bowl party to attend

Posted by: Contagion at 12:46 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 blah, blah, blah. . . No really, blah, blah, blah!

This year's officials sucked arse! They made bad calls in every playoff game played. They missed blatant calls and they simply fudged with the rest.

But, you pick on just the Steelers (cause you know they won fair and square). When there were calls that should have been made on both sides.

I also respectfully disagree with Ben's touchdown. The ball broke the plane. On at least three angles. Now, the fourth, a little more dicey, but on three angles she broke it . . .

As for the commercials? The streaking sheep was the best. I saw the sheep and said "hey that sheep is nekkid" and sure nuf, she was!

Posted by: oddybobo at February 06, 2006 02:50 PM (6Gm0j)

2 It doesn't bother me the Steelers won. They did, I'm not even argueing that.

I'm saying that the bad play calling all seemed to benefit them. The majority of overlooked calls and bad calls helped the Steelers.

Ben's touchdown broke the plain... only in your imagination!

Posted by: Contagion at February 06, 2006 03:12 PM (Q5WxB)

3 I agree with Contagion on the Ben call. Not that the Steelers needed it in the end - they could have won without it. But yeah, pretty poor officiating all the way around... especially that stupid personal foul they called on Hasselbeck - question... are they allowed to tackle anymore? Just wondered...

Posted by: Teresa at February 06, 2006 11:04 PM (FZwDL)

4 My biggest gripe was with that offensive pass interference call in the first quarter. The guys made very little contact, almost like slapping hands, and the official waited until after the Seahawk guy thought he scored to even throw the flag. Shitty, shitty call. My opinion is that the score was 14-14, and overtime should have been played. However, I think Holmgren showed a lack of class by now shaking hands after the game. It wasn't the Steelers fault that the officials sucked.

Posted by: littlejoe at February 07, 2006 04:25 AM (vBIjH)

5 now=not....damn typos.

Posted by: littlejoe at February 07, 2006 04:26 AM (vBIjH)

6 I agree on the offensive pass interference -- that was crap. But every view I saw showed the Ben touchdown to be good. All it had to do was touch the line -- looked fine to me.

Posted by: Ogre at February 07, 2006 09:02 AM (/k+l4)

7 The offensive Pass Interference was a legit call. They are not allowed to touch. If you look the ref actually threw the wrong flag first, he threw the position marker (small black) he went back got the yellow flag.

The ball does have to break the plain. From every angle I saw, it didn't, until Ben was down.

Holmgren was wrong not to shake hands.

Posted by: Contagion at February 07, 2006 09:20 AM (Q5WxB)

8 The Seahawks deserved to lose because Hasselbeck doesn't have a blog :-)

Posted by: Harvey at February 07, 2006 07:16 PM (ubhj8)

9 Get back in your hole Harvey.

Posted by: littlejoe at February 07, 2006 08:17 PM (vBIjH)

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ItÂ’s Super Bowl Sunday! You know what that means donÂ’t you? YepÂ… IÂ’m going to be winning some money!

For the first time in 6 years IÂ’ve been invited to multiple Super Bowl parties. (I must be getting tame in my old age.) Of course I said yes to the first one and then declined all the rest. The thing that gets me is that I want to go to all of them for different reasons. Some I know will have better food; others will have better alcohol (One is serving 18 year old Scotch!), and others may have better conversation.

Either way I know IÂ’m going to have fun! It should be a great game; I thinking it will be close. When I get back IÂ’ll share with you the tragic story of how the dog dilemma went.

Go Seattle!

Posted by: Contagion at 12:01 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Many people speculate whom the top ten best football teams of all time have been. Well some Bear fan went and put together a list. (Only a Bear fan would pick the 85 Bears as the best team of all time.) Are you curious to know if your team made it?

The thing that gets me with lists like this is that itÂ’s all based on a personÂ’s opinion. A personÂ’s opening can be easily swayed by a liking or disliking of a team, player, and/or owner. I put about as much stock into lists like this as I do of the dream I have that Adriana Lima is going to come to my house and have a three-way with me and my wife coming true.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:56 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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This weekend is the Super Bowl. There are a lot of excited people out there, including myself. My team came nowhere close to even making the playoffs, let alone the big game. Being an NFC fan (Plus Holmgren, Rhodes and Hasselbeck where with the Packers), IÂ’m pulling for the Seahawks to win, and I honestly think they can do it. Yet, for some reason, everyone else I know seems to be pulling for the Steelers and thinking they are going to win. Where are the Seattle fans? Am I the only person that thinks Seattle is going to win?

This brings me to my second issue. I have a minion at work that is a Steelers fan, huge Steelers fan. He claims that the Steelers are going to put the smack down on Seattle. He was so convinced of this he wanted to put a wager on it. You all know IÂ’m not a gambling man; no good comes from gambling. Yet, this one time I bit. Why? He gave me 25 points. Yes, twenty-five points! That means that if the Steelers win 35-10, we tie, if itÂ’s 34-10 I win.

So if there are any other Steeler fans out there that want to offer the same conditions, contact me.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:21 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 I think you made a wise decision.

Posted by: Dr. Phat Tony at February 03, 2006 08:58 AM (fk/lm)

2 What exactly is your workplace's policy on drugs? Sounds as if someone is in clear violation.

What a crackhead...

Posted by: That 1 Guy at February 03, 2006 10:18 AM (lfQya)

3 25 points is definitely insanity, but the Steelers are still going to win.

Posted by: Pandy at February 03, 2006 10:48 AM (BNvEh)

4 Being a Washingtonian as I am, I will be pulling for the Seachickens. I might even stop calling them the Seachickens when they win.

Posted by: Tige at February 03, 2006 11:08 AM (QgCnE)

5 Hell, if he's giving 25 points, I'll take the bet and I'm a Steelers fan. Steelers win by 6 or less.

Posted by: spurs at February 03, 2006 12:56 PM (tdOZ4)

6 Go HAWKS, or chickens which ever!

Posted by: DE644 at February 03, 2006 02:23 PM (/C3Pw)

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The regular football season is over, that means itÂ’s time for me to award prizes to the winners of my Salary Cap and PickÂ’ems Football contests.

The winner for the Salary Cap League is:

First loser is:

For the PickÂ’ems, The Winner is:

First loser is:

The winners have been notified by e-mail of their victory. A nominal prize for the football team of their choice shall be sent to them. For the first losersÂ… you get an honorable mention and the Nelson Muntz laugh. HA-ha!

I hope that everyone that participated enjoyed themselves. Of course I will be running both again next year, so sometime in August you can expect to seem me sending out invites. If you didnÂ’t get to play, there is always next year!

Posted by: Contagion at 09:56 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Whoo-hoo!!!! I just received notice of the 2006 Schedule for the Rock River Raptors. The Raptors are an indoor football team for which I have purchased season tickets. Row 1, 50 yard line, right behind the teams bench.

March 25, 2006 07:00 PM @ Evansville Bluecats
April 1, 2006 07:30 PM Sioux Falls Storm
April 8, 2006 07:00 PM @ Bloomington Extreme
April 15, 2006 07:00 PM @ Sioux Falls Storm
April 22, 2006 07:30 PM Peoria Rough Riders
April 29, 2006 07:30 PM Omaha Beef
May 6, 2006 07:30 PM Bloomington Extreme
May 12, 2006 07:00 PM @ Ft. Wayne Freedom
May 20, 2006 07:30 PM Lexington Horsemen
May 27, 2006 12:00 AM BYE
June 3, 2006 07:00 PM @ Lexington Horsemen
June 10, 2006 07:00 PM @ Omaha Beef
June 17, 2006 07:30 PM Ft. Wayne Freedom
June 24, 2006 07:30 PM Bloomington Extreme
July 1, 2006 07:00 PM @ Peoria Rough Riders
July 8, 2006 07:30 PM Ohio Valley Greyhounds

***Home games in bold***

IÂ’m not sure what the rules or regulations are yet, but I have time to learn before the first game. The best thing about this is that it fills the empty months between Pro-Bowl and Pre-Season. However, IÂ’m not sure if this schedule is accurate, it looks like they are playing the Bloomington Extreme three times, so there may be some changes. As it stands right now, IÂ’ll be able to go to all but one game. The April 29 game falls on the date of one of my re-enactments, priorities folks, priorities.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:56 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Yesterday marked the end of an era, at least for us football fans. Yesterday was the very last Monday Night Football (MNF) game on ABC. On September 21, 1970, this tradition of football during primetime started and was the longest running primetime sports show in history. Effectively covering 36 seasons, this show became a staple for football fans around the country.

As I am in my early thirtyÂ’s, I canÂ’t remember a time when there was not MNF, so last nights lack-luster game with all of its clips and highlights was difficult to watch. Not because the game was crappy, but because of what it symbolized, the end of an era. When I was younger, I remember watching the games with my dad. The times we spent talking about the teams, the players, the plays; it was a special time for us. As I got older, I always found MNF to be a welcome distraction to the different troubles that lives throw your way.

Sure, they are still going to show Monday night games on ESPN, but that’s just not that same. The game isn’t going to start with the traditional, “Are you ready for some football?” song by Hank Williams Jr.. Sure, they are still going to have annoying announcers, but damn! No John Madden and Al Michaels babbling about the plays in some inane commentary, no on-screen doodling by Madden to try to make sense of his babbling, no long winded stories by Michaels to try to give some semblance of importance to what he is saying, it’s all gone. There will be no more “Horse Trailer” Player of the Game. Nothing will be the same!

ItÂ’s not just the football that made MNF great; it was the whole production that made MNF what it was. IÂ’m sure there are many out there donÂ’t understand what IÂ’m talking about and think IÂ’m going even further off of my rocker, but to the football junkies out there, you understand. You all know exactly what I am saying.

Farewell MNF, life will not be the same with out you. Thank you Meredith, Cosell, Gifford, Madden and Michaels for all the memories. Thank you.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:17 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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One last thing on TO, just because this made me laugh my arse off.

I read this article by Charles Robinson regarding who might pick up TO. He has the football quote of the year as far as IÂ’m concerned.

Owens will be released in the off season, and he's destined to woo someone else. He's the league's answer to Peppermint Schnapps – sweet when you meet, but a headache waiting to happen. What's worse, you know that going in, and you still end up in the same place.

***Emphasis mine

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Okay maybe not everyone will find that as amusing as I did, but maybe it’s because it brings back two memories for me. The first being the movie “The Stoned Age”, when the two guys try to go pick up these chics they show up with this gallon bottle of peppermint schnapps. (The Schnappster.. **TING**) Even the girls won’t touch the stuff. It was just hilarious.

The second stemmed from when I was in College. Now, to tell this story properly I will need to slip into story teller mode, those of you that have seen me in person tell stories know what IÂ’m talking about, those of you that havenÂ’tÂ… IÂ’m sorry you missed the show.

One night when I was in college, my friends and I went out drinking. (All my good stories start out like that, I donÂ’t know why) It was September of my sophomore year; my sophomore palls and I took a couple of freshmen that lived on our floor in the dorm to this party. We had Skippy (All he ate was Skippy peanut butter) and Spin (He looked like the lead singer of the Spin Doctors) with us. They seemed like nice enough guys, and we thought we would show them were the good parties are held.

At the second party we arrived at they had peppermint schnapps flowing freely to the ladiesÂ… and Skippy. Skippy decided he loved the schnapps. Unbeknownst to us, Skippy had never drank before in his life. He found the taste alluring and couldnÂ’t stay away from the stuff. He ended up getting pissed drunk. When I say pissed drunk, I mean he pissed himself in the middle of the party. After wetting himself he was forced to stay out of the house, now we being good friends that we wereÂ… having just met the guy in the last couple of weeksÂ… we decided to stay at the party, in the house, away from him. Now I could lie and say we had hoped he would sober up, but I was quite the asshole, and I kept sending people out to him with a shot every 30 minutesÂ… just to keep him drunk. (He was blitzed by 10:00 PM; we stayed at the party until 4:00AM).

After a while just to make sure he wouldn’t get too drunk we started giving him shots of water with a splash of Scope (To make him think it was the schnappster) between the other shots. Maybe it was all he had to drink, maybe it was the fact that toward the end of the night he spilled more down the front of his face then he got in his mouth, either way he never noticed, UNTIL we were walking home. We had to leave when Skippy took a header off of the second floor balcony into some bushes. God loves the stupid and drunks, because he walked away with out a scratch. On the way home, between trying to bounce off every car, tree and bush, he finally let the urge to ‘gurge flow. Bear hugging a tree he opened his mouth and all the water, scope and peppermint schnapps he had been drinking came out of him with enough force to tip him over onto his back.

Picture if you will, Skippy a scrawny kid no taller then 5ft 6, laying on his back spewing like a fountain. The bile pepperminty fluid splashing back down over his face and chest. None of us wanted to touch the kid; he was covered in vomit and piss. Finding a large stick, which was actually a fence post we ripped out of the ground. We prodded Skippy until he got up and was able to get back to the dorm. As we were walking away he says, “Have I been drinking Scope?” We all start busting up.

Now you would think he would learn his lesson? NopeÂ… the very next weekend he went out and did the SAME thing with peppermint schnapps. The whole semester went that way, every couple of weeks he would get blitzed off of the schnappster. In December, when he found out he was probably going to flunk out, I asked him why he kept drinking peppermint schnapps. His response was what made the above comment so funny.

“It’s like dating a girl you know is just using you. At the beginning of the night it’s great. Everything is sweet, exciting and sensual. By the end of the night you realize that for what you got, it cost you a lot, but it was so good you just can’t help going back for more.” – Skippy December, 1993.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:41 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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It looks as if the NFL arbitrator upheld the suspension and deactivation of Terrell Owens by the Philadelphia Eagle.

T.O.Â’s Season effectively over after arbitrator sides with Eagles.

It couldnÂ’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:28 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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