I Bet You Won't Finish Your Popcorn

This first weekend in May 2015 wields a double edged sword. The weekend that essentially started on Thursday could be either sports fan nirvana or the final debacle for a degenerate gambler.

The yearly talent crapshoot known as the NFL draft kicked off the weekend on Thursday. Teams have probed, poked and tested about 2,000 of the young men they see as the top college talent. All that evaluation is done in the hope they will find the next Peyton Manning and not the next Ryan Leaf. After a season that offered as much if not more coverage given to off the field issues than to the play on the field, the word “character” became the hacky sack of every broadcast.  I guess watching Jameis Winston throw the football makes everyone forget about the other stuff.  For every Tyrann Mathieu there are 5 Justin Blackmon’s it seems. Only time will tell if all the character questions had merit, though I will be surprised if more than 3 of the top picks in this draft play out their rookie contract.  The most popular bets available on the draft define insanity; you can bet on where any player will be drafted, who the first running back drafted is and which conference will have the most players drafted. I will bet that any players unfortunate enough to be drafted by those whoopee cushions known as the Redskins and Browns will come to camp stocked up on Prozac to cope with the insanity.

Saturday presents us with the most exciting two minutes in sports followed later by the richest fight in boxing history. The Kentucky Derby is the only “pre-game” that rivals the Super Bowl. At least with the Derby there are other races to watch instead of seventeen human interest stories about a player’s gardener’s dog’s barber. Well, all the pre derby stuff is worth watching just for the big crazy hats isn't it? The races yes, for the hats no, no it’s not.  It was unfortunate that California Chrome missed the Triple Crown last year since it was a neat story of a great little horse, though it only furthered the notion there will never be another Secretariat.  My pick, Carpe Diem, didn’t carpe enough, which is why I don’t bet on horse racing unless I happen to be at the track in Saratoga Springs. I hit the trifecta the last time I went though it sure wasn't enough to retire to St. Thomas.

I hope the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight lives up to the hype after waiting so long for it to happen. Apparently it is already the richest fight in boxing history and at $ 90.00 for pay-per-view in standard def I think I’ll stick with plain old Netflix.  I went to a pay-per-view event for Tyson- Spinks (I didn't buy the tickets) and that was over before I finished my popcorn.  I hope anyone that made the investment on this fight gets to finish theirs. These guys are both long in the tooth for boxers though I expect the fight to go the distance. I don’t see either being able to knock the other out, unless it’s happens to be of the Hollywood double knockout variety.

Behind these big three, the NBA and NHL playoffs are in full swing and into the second round. I’m going on a short limb and wagering these early rounds will have more drama than the finals in either league.  We can’t forget baseball still has over 135 games to go before their playoffs begin. That season seems so long because of the number of games, though time wise it’s really only longer than the NFL.  If you’re a fan of any or all of the sports action this weekend I wish you luck in having the time to finish your popcorn. For all you gamblers out there I hope you managed to hang on to enough gas money to get to you to work Monday. If not, I hope you have a good pair of shoes and a friendly looking thumb or maybe even some leftover popcorn.

An NFL Experience

     The Super Bowl has come to town for the third time since I’ve lived in Arizona; this time with my wife’s favorite team in tow. We donned our Patriots gear and hopped the Metro to downtown Phoenix for the NFL Experience; a first time experience for us both. We were definitely in the minority in our Pats gear as the train filled up with fans festooned in Seahawks colored garb along the way. A couple times chants of “Sea!” Hawks!” rang out during the trip; we got really tired of hearing it break out inside the venue too.

    We arrived to a sea of people overrunning downtown Phoenix.  This was a huge crowd; a churning mass of humanity milling about seeking football fan nirvana.  Every inch of real estate that wasn’t covered by tents or signs was being tread upon by thousands of feet. We decided to hit Super Bowl Central; they handed us a map and asked if we ended help finding anything. Thus began our typical event staff interactions for the day, which was essentially the same no matter where they were or what they were doing.  When asked a question they’d lift their right arm, point and say, “Go that way.” Not a lefty in the bunch, what are the chances of that?

    While we tried to find the entrance, we wandered by a few exhibits outside like the Street Art Throw-down, which explained why my nose was assaulted with the odor of spray paint; sanctioned graffiti featuring brilliant colors with an Arizona Super Bowl theme. There were also a few strategically placed street corner preachers with headset mics proselytizing through a PA, while others passed out leaflets; only in America, side by side spectacles of such extremes in the same venue.

     We discovered the line to get inside snaked along one entire side of the Phoenix Convention Center and almost to the end of the next; you couldn’t see your destination until you got close to the entrance. The line squeezed us down into lanes created by barriers that allowed only 2 at a time to walk comfortably side by side.  Once inside the staff did the arm thing again and directed us toward the entrance for those who had tickets like ourselves. 

                                               "Go that way"

Finally inside the building

    

     For an NFL junkie this is the place to be, though if you want to experience everything it can’t all be done in one day, because this is just like a huge theme park. The most popular events like the autograph stage and the field activities had ridiculously long lines which will eat up a lot of time.  The event spanned 3 floors in the convention center, with the main activities and the pro shop on the first floor. The elbow to elbow crush of humanity created by the setup made for a lot of bumps and twists to make your way through the crowd; stopping anywhere was asking to be run into by a little kid or someone not looking where they were going. Can you say epic madhouse?  We poked around in the pro shop for a bit then decided to head on inside.

                                         Sensory overload

     The walk into the main venue was pure sensory overload; the panorama shot doesn’t even scratch the surface on the noise, lights, and stuff that sprawled in front of us. We picked the path of least resistance crowd-wise and set off to see what we could find. What we found was akin to a NFL Disney; we found lines, lots of them, and very long too. We also finally found more Patriot fans inside enjoying the festivities in their typical low key New England way; an exchange of “Go Pats” and a smile as we passed were about as rowdy is it got.

One of the Field Event Areas

Funky old team jackets

Program from first ever AFL game

Hall of Fame ring, Strahan's 

     There were NFL films on massive TVs all over the place and they were all playing different highlights. There was a nice display of old pictures, programs and uniforms from the Hall of Fame. The busts and rings from the 2014 class were on display; those rings are HUGE. We wandered through a display where they were making and selling Wilson footballs, got our picture taken next to the NFL draft podium, and met a group of Pats fans that came out for the game.  We were all waiting to put our face on a fully equipped Pats player statue. There was one of those for every team placed throughout the place; some had lines for pictures while others were used by folks to sit and rest tired feet.  The big display on the upper level showed the history of pro football from 1870’s to the present day and had some cool old time pics. There was so much to see, we walked and walked and walked some more.  This was definitely a total immersion NFL experience any fan, whether die-hard or casual, should have an opportunity to be a part of.

Drafted #1

                                              

     We made the Pro Shop our last stop of the day. The checkout line snaked around and through the shop till you reached a mini maze of those airport ribbon barriers. When you arrived at the end of the line the cashiers waved a flag to signal who was next. We took a lot of pictures to document our day, which was a hell of a lot of fun.

                                     " Honey take the picture I"m on my tiptoes!"

                    Time for a brief respite and a selfie before the trip home.

      We hopped the Metro for the ride home, which was standing room only; stand we did all the way home. We had a couple of swings and misses trying to find a place for a decent sit down dinner, though we did witness another fabulous Arizona sunset. 

     

     We were both so tired and hungry by the time we sat down to eat we agreed we would have eaten a tire covered with butter. Everything hurt except my hair by the time we got home, though I wouldn’t have missed it for the world knowing how happy it made my lovely wife. Her smile at the end of the day made it all worthwhile. When Malcolm Butler made a game-saving interception the next day, it tied a nice bow on a great weekend.

Four Weeks in

 
                                                                           

     I must admit I feel a bit jaded four games into the NFL season with some of the changes on the field and the stuff happening off it. We have reached the quarter pole and there certainly have been some surprises from both teams and players at both ends of the spectrum since the kickoff.  The fumbled punts from the league office surrounding all the off the field shenanigans from Ray Rice, to Adrian Peterson, in addition to the Greg Hardy and Ray McDonald situations has been more in the news then the game on the field.  The first two situations are now about damage control and attempting to appease the masses and keep the bozos in Congress from sticking their noses in. Goodell has been as bad for the NFL as Stern was for the NBA by creating a product that becomes more difficult to sit and watch. The number of penalty flags decorating the field has gone beyond ridiculous, with the number of ticky tack fouls being called slowing the game and affecting the flow, though adding more review-able plays would allow for more beer and pizza commercials.  Per the usual corporate mindset, mahogany row always does what mahogany row wants to and the hell with everyone else who has bought at ticket: in other words like it or leave, this is what you get.

     The game on the field has definitely had some surprises, except for the Jets and the Raiders who have been and will remain clown cars with brief, very brief flashes of organization. The Cardinals and Bengals are the only teams undefeated at this point in the season which is rather unusual to have only 2 by this juncture.  The Cardinals appear to have developed a much tougher mindset the past couple of seasons and it will be interesting to see how well they can hold on to that. The Bengals have been here before and felt flat in the playoffs, only time will tell if this will be their year.

     The biggest surprise would have to be Dallas winning 3 of 4 and mowing down teams with their running game. DeMarco Murray has to be in the mix for MVP based on his early play. I didn’t expect Dallas to win more than 6 or 7 games given all the defensive issues that carried over from last year, plus losing a couple of defensive starters and their guys have stepped up and played well.  Another 3 up 1 down surprise would have to be the Texans, after only winning 2 games last year, though they may not be there if not for J.J. Watt and their defense.  Detroit winning 3 of 4 is a small surprise too, though they kind of should be since they have plenty of talent and it seems a new coach has helped get them moving together in the right direction.  Given the Lions history the past 60 years, great starts have often lead to epic implosions, however with the talent here these guys could definitely go a long way.

    From the other end of the spectrum the surprise team would have to be the Saints losing 3 of 4 and with that defense they are lucky to have won one game. A high school freshman football team could drop 30 points on these guys, they don’t tackle and there are way too many guys out of position.  Their supercharged offense has been nothing worth noting either, I see 8-8, 9-7 at best with this group. There are two of the ugliest teams at 2-2 based on preseason expectations; one has to be the Patriots with an offensive line that can’t keep the quarterback upright even when they are blocking 5 or 6 on 4 and a defense that can’t seem to stop anyone on third down. You can never count out a Belichek coached team; however it doesn't look like he has the horse this year to pull it off.  He is one of the best at making adjustments on the fly, so a candle of hope will remain burning impatiently in Foxboro, that Bill can right the ship.  The 49ers are the other team that seems to be fighting to get itself together after two 4^th quarter meltdowns. Rumblings have appeared on line that players are unhappy with the coach, though I don’t see him going anywhere anytime soon.

    The rest of the teams are about where expected, in a state of meh, with the expected bottom dwellers at the bottom and the middle kids being right where there supposed to be. The Falcons and the Colts should be fun to watch from what they have shown so far and both will probably have a few games that end with scores around 38 – 35.

    From a fantasy football perspective a lot of the expected studs have been duds, especially the running backs.  Adrian Peterson we know Is home watching day time TV, Jamaal Charles missed time, Eddie Lacy and LeSean McCoy can’t seem to get going and as mentioned before DeMarco Murray is running roughshod over people so far. So many teams are going with running back by committee that finding consistency from running backs has been so much a test of skill and more like a bit of luck. The top receivers have had their issues too; Calvin Johnson, Brandon Marshall and Demeryius Thomas have all been dealing with injuries and not in top form.  Steve Smith even at 100 years old makes Joe Flacco look like he can throw the ball and doesn’t look to be slowing down a bit.  Allen Hurns from the Jags pretty much has the “That Didn’t Help Anyone” award sewed up for the season after week one, I think that surprise performance will be tough to beat. I think Peyton Manning misses Knowshon Moreno more than he can admit; he’s still Peyton though not as Peytony. Brees and Brady have spent the first few weeks running for their lives and not shown us what we are accustomed to seeing from these two. I don’t want a witness from the congregation I want you to block someone dammit! Nick Foles obviously spent the off season learning how to throw interceptions, though with that offense he will be all right.  Aaron Rodgers finally looked like himself dismantling the Bears, though the Packers look a little unsteady. Meanwhile, Andrew Luck is steadily working his way to being poster child for the NFL. I almost forgot to mention to the top rookies QB's from the draft, Teddy Bridgewater and Blake Bortles, the early returns look like these guys can play and I hope their offensive lines can keep them from getting killed. Two of the defenses expected to be dominating, the Panthers and 49ers have not been, and the one expected to be tissue, the Cowboys, have exceeded expectations.  The Cardinals have played real well despite losing some starters from last year and are a mild surprise though Bruce Arians has got these guys playing together and playing tough.

     This season so far is shaping up to have a couple of 9-7 or 8-8 wildcard teams, as there is no team really dominating week in and week out and it wouldn't be a surprise to see a 9-7 in the Super Bowl.  The halfway point may be a better gauge as the inevitable injuries mount up and the teams that can adjust and have fill-ins step up will rise to the top.

     My jaded self has come to realize that football has been a fall tradition for me for so long it is hard to break away from it. I have the games on some Sundays as background noise while I futz around the house, waiting for the crowd roar to run to the TV. I sure I see more replays than real time plays some weeks. I started playing fantasy football 3 seasons ago after some prodding by my other half, and that has become more interesting than the games on the screen. Something wrong there I think. I’ll still watch with one eye at least, though I’ll be sure to keep a book to read handy and a pillow nearby for naps between play reviews.

    

                                                                            

     

There's Still Nothing On

     After living in this house a few years I reached a point when I had to make some changes. I was working nights so paying for 150 channels with nothing on didn’t make a lot of sense.  Mainly because I wasn’t home to watch anything I was interested in and I didn’t have a way to record it at the time.  So I kicked loose from cable TV for almost 2 years, it was too costly for what I was getting out of it, though I kept the internet. I would just watch the shows I wanted online when I got home at night, plus I could pause it when I wanted to so it worked real well for a while.  With football season approaching I had to do something and decided to break down and get one of those TV signal converters plus a set of rabbit ears to see what I could pull in for TV. I could get the local network channels that carried football except the NBC affiliate, which wasn’t a great loss though I was surprised I couldn’t ever get the local PBS station. Reception ranged between pretty good and meh most of the time, though all bets were off during dust storms. I somehow managed to pull in, at least from the antennae’s point of view, a “total” of 63 channels, of which I watched about 7 or 8 if I could get them to come in. The rest consisted of a rather eclectic mess that for some interesting channel surfing if nothing else. There were 7 or 8 that were basically nothing more than the flea races with sound,  it was toss up about what you heard sound wise, sometimes they were in English, some times in Spanish.  Another group of a dozen or so consisted of religious or evangelical channels in various and sundry forms. Any one that has known me any length of time knows I’m about as religious as a bucket of paint and only darken the doors of a church for weddings and funerals, so they were pretty much out of my wheelhouse.  The remaining 30 odd stations were all in Spanish, some religion based others just regular TV and since my high school Spanish is very rusty at best I didn’t last long watching those and trying translate on the fly. My main TV fare consisted of ancient reruns from the fairly early days of television.

 

                                                             

 

     I’ve rarely met anyone that doesn’t recall the TV shows of their youth with some degree of fondness, though I‘ll tell ya watching these shows now it’s easy to notice how low budget they really were.  From a kid’s point of view this was cool stuff and I wonder how adults from that era thought about what was filling the small screen.  Catching some of the old shows here and there is a reminder of simpler times and simpletons. Seriously who grew up during the 60’s & 70’s and didn’t see every episode of Gilligan’s Island and Leave It to Beaver about 4,000 times. Watching all that TV I don’t know how I managed to read all the books I did, so maybe I‘m a little odd, just maybe. I remember as a kid we had a box on top of the TV we called the rotor that was connected to a motor up on the antenna. You had to turn the dial to specific points marked on it to get certain channels to come in. We only were able to get about 5 since we didn’t live in an area close enough to any of the UHF stations; those were the channel numbers above 13.  Cable didn't make an appearance in my area until I was heading to high school. The world has definitely moved on.

   

                                   

                 

 

    Into this epic conglomeration sitting atop my TV set walked the woman that is now my wife.  The first time she was at my house and we decided to watch TV she had a look of utter surprise that I didn’t have cable.  I exposed her to the joy that is over the air TV, she wasn’t impressed.  The typical offering late at night after Craig Ferguson ended was usually an infomercial and there weren’t a lot of other choices. The most palatable enough to watch usually consisted of Highway Patrol and Sea Hunt, with an occasional Mr. Ed or Bat Masterson thrown in.  Mr. Ed got a pass of course, he’s a horse and horses are cool, plus he is still funny after all these years.  The others left her wondering why I watched this stuff. I pointed out to her that these shows were from the late 50’s & early 60’s, essentially the stuff I grew up watching, when everything was in black & white and television as an industry wasn’t much more than a teenager.  Sophistication in TV land then wasn’t as important as just putting something on that folks may watch and sponsors could manage to try and sell stuff. I always liked it when Alfred Hitchcock groused and sighed about having to go to a commercial., just like we do now. We would watch and giggle over the impossible stuff that occurred in episode after episode. and the obvious low production sets. The PSAs at the end of Highway Patrol were always special,

“ Remember to give blood at the blood bank not on the freeway” and “ Leave the clowns at the circus don’t be one on the highway”  we’re our favorites.

                                                                          

                                                           

     As our relationship progressed we spent many a Sunday and Monday watching football at her place. She had cable and her TV wasn’t a refuge from the Clinton era.  When we made the decision to share living space she insisted that the rabbit ears go, which required very little arm twisting and not long after she parked her desk and her clothes in the third bedroom, the dish went up on the end of the trailer. NFL Sunday ticket is great way to OD on football in the fall, though we now have 200 channels and there’s still nothing on; thank the universe for the DVR.  We do still catch Mr. Ed from time to time.  After all, a horse is horse of course, of course.    

      

 

Draft of Fantasy on tap

I somehow managed to score first pick in our Fantasy Football League draft today. It is odd picking first then waiting for 18 picks, then picking 2 back to back , then wait for 18 more picks again, then picking two and so on over and over.  My wife and I play in the same Standard NFL.com league  and only play each other once this year. One league is definitely enough because that takes enough time since I can't seem to stop hunting the waiver wire. Do I promise to not tinker with my lineup so much this year?  That will be an emphatic yes, though you can't see me crossing my fingers behind my back. I am hoping I have a pretty much set it and forget group this year if people stay healthy. We’ll see I guess, here are the culprits:

RB – Jamal Charles, KC

RB- Reggie Bush, Det.

WR- Brandon Marshall , Chi.

QB- Matthew Stafford, Det.

WR – Larry Fitzgerald, Ari.

TE – Greg Olsen, Car.

WR – Marques Colston, N.O.

RB – DeAngelo Williams, Car.

WR – TY Hilton, Ind.

RB- Danny Woodhead, S.D.

RB – Ahmad Bradshaw, Ind.

K – Matt Bryant – Atl.

WR – Golden Tate, Det.

Def. – New Orleans Saints

Def. – Arizona Cardinals

 

 

Finally Football

The long wait is over. It’s August and that means the start of preseason games for the NFL and fantasy football angst will soon engulf the premises. Time to crank up NFL Sunday Ticket and bring on the games!

I watched some of the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies over the weekend and per usual it didn’t disappoint. It was good to see Claude Humphrey and Ray Guy get in through the Veteran’s Committee, which I think was a good idea when it was added to the selection process.  I remember how good a player Humphrey was and I ‘m glad to see him get recognized finally. He suffered the fate of some other really good players that were on lousy teams like the Falcons were in the 60’s and 70’s.  One of those guys played behind him at middle linebacker, Tommy Nobis. It is hard to believe he still hasn’t made it in.  Players on winning teams have always had more air time and ink which definitely helped their chances, especially if they had game. The get Ray Guy to the Hall of Fame campaign paid dividends and that is a good thing. He changed the perception of punters into being more of a weapon and it was about time he got in. 

I’d love to visit the Hall again since the last time I went it was less than 10 years old, the summer after Super Bowl IV and there were only 75-80 players inducted at that time.  I’m willing to bet the gift shop is a lot bigger.

 

 

Football Indoors?

I scored tickets to an Arena Football League game recently so my wife and I hopped the Metro into the center of Phoenix to see the game. I had been to a few Rattlers games before and since you’re essentially in a hockey rink the feel of being closer to the action is an added bonus. We could tell the game was on TV due to all the timeouts, though that time was always filled with rock and roll blaring over the PA,  crazy contests involving the jumbo-tron or the cheerleaders throwing t-shirts into the stands. I noticed it wasn’t a full house like the previous Rattlers games I’ve been to, which I suspect had more to do with economics then the Rattlers popularity. The ticket prices have surely gone up, then again what hasn’t gone up in price? No doubt continuing national TV contracts have helped with visibility and furthering the league’s popularity.

I became an arena ball fan when I moved here the summer of ’94. The games were on one of the local stations so I had an opportunity to get my football fix during those blazing hot summer days with no football. The local team, the Arizona Rattlers won the championship my first year in Phoenix and I was hooked on the AFL.

I remember when tape delayed Arena League games started appearing on ESPN back in the late 80’s when they still needed to fill their 24 hour schedule and would televise almost anything that even resembled a sport.  Here we are over 25 years later and there is a 14 team league playing an 18 game schedule and there are games on TV almost every weekend. Prior to the league reorganizing in 2009, the player’s offseason was akin to the old days of the NFL before the huge salaries brought on by free agency.  After the season finished they would go back to whatever their 9 to 5 offseason job was until training camp rolled around again. Now many of the Arena League players don’t have to do that because teams have a year round payroll.  

Outside of tickets prices generally costing less than the four major pro leagues I think another aspect to the appeal comes from being so close to the action. Probably the biggest draw has to do with the game itself. It is very fast paced and scoring can get really high with all the passing going on; the AFL record for touchdown passes in a season is 142 for example. You’ll see familiar names from NFL rosters playing in the AFL; several players have made the jump to the NFL with Kurt Warner the most recognizable.

I never would have expected this odd idea of playing 8 man football indoors would catch on like it did or have the resiliency to remain relevant in the sports world for the last 25 years. This definitely is a game that is best experienced firsthand. Take a chance and go see a game if your area has a team, you won’t be disappointed.

 

http://www.arenafootball.com/       

 

Update: Our local team, the Arizona Rattlers won their 3^rd Arena Bowl in a row on Saturday 72-32. Three championships in a row in any team sport is not easy to do.  

 

Just Say No to That Guy

Training camps for all the NFL teams will be starting soon and with it the analysis and predictions for the coming season will take on new meaning for us armchair jocks. In other words, Fantasy Football is upon us again. When I first heard about fantasy leagues for the major sports I always looked sideways at them they just didn’t make much sense to me. I figured I watch the games or not so what would I get out of it? Well, I was wrong big time. A good friend who now happens to be my wife had been playing for a few years and convinced me to try. Needless to say I was hooked, hooked like a degenerate gambler at the roulette wheel. The fun isn't in winning week in and week out, though it is nice to make the playoffs at the end of the season. The fun, the rush of adrenaline comes from the buildup to the games each week. Making decisions on who to start, looking at your team’s matchups, your opponent’s matchups, who is on a bye, what teams might be looking ahead, and the big one - hoping that one player you're not sure of doesn't have a dud game. Insert the name of your "that guy" right here, one would think we’d know better after previous seasons. Nope, at some point when you need to pick someone up up to cover a bye week that happens to be available again and you pick them up and they tank like a gut shot duck. Then you spend your Sunday screaming at the Player Tracker again. This season we both swear that will not be anywhere near the roster. Maybe

                I stopped being a die-hard fan of any team a long time ago. After the strike seasons and all the free agent moves from team to team I realized I didn’t know any of these guys. I only knew what I saw or read that was spoon fed to me by the media. We all were witnesses to OJ’s 4 hour Ford commercial so we know perception can surely lie like hell. I started to keep track of favorite players and would watch their games if I could to see them play. That to me is the whole point of signing up to play. It adds something different to watching the games, because they sure do need it now. Sure scoring is up and also the number of TV timeouts, really to the point of ridiculous. I don't often sit and watch a whole game anymore, it's too big of a time sink for me to justify. If you've ever been to an NFL game you experienced those TV timeouts and they seem really odd in the flow of the game. All of a sudden the players just stop and mill around for a few minutes before they get back to playing. I’ve been to a half dozen games over the years and it is definitely not an experience to pass up if you have the chance to go. Just bring your wallet or leave it home if you want to eat, drive your car and have lights for the next month.

My wife and I have played in the same leagues and after 3 seasons of head to head games we are tied 2-2. Those games always make for an interesting Sunday of football because we are both rather competitive.  It would be great to play each other in the championship game at the end of the season. What would be worse finishing second or sleeping on a lumpy couch? Someday I’ll sure I’ll find out, hopefully after we get a better couch.