It is so nice to be watching football again - the NBA season was strong, but this lack of sports-watching since June has hurt me pretty badly. I suppose I've filled it with Golf and other things, but I do miss following the ins and outs of an entire league.
The Patriots are playing the Redskins in a preseason game tonight, and it has been more fun to watch than I had anticipated. Here are some of the reasons why:
> First incompletion of the game by Brady was a flare pass out to Fred Taylor, which to the viewer was easily seen as an incomplete forward pass, but you can easily understand why Taylor, the Pats RB, may have not seen that so clearly. It was so refreshing to see him chase the ball down, as if it may have been a lateral or backwards pass, and to see a genuine kind of hustle that helps teams win championships.
> The Redskins are exactly, exactly, what I think they are. They are a fantastic roster of athletes, who cannot contain themselves when it comes to penalties. They are individuals who think they need to make all the plays. Haynesworth jumping a snap for an encroachment, Smoot dancing like a moron after each tackle, D. Hall with a facemask on a tackle that stopped Moss for fourth down, and also Hall getting beat b/c he bit too hard on a pumpfake. All these are examples of individuals thinking they need to to the extraordinary thing, rather than doing their job.
> Brady has the best combination of arm strength and accuracy I have ever seen. Maybe, and I hate to say it, Marino may have bested him. Montana had lots of things going on, as did Steve Young, but Brady has managed to package it all up into something remarkable. Which leads me to my next point...
> Belichick has mastered the thought process of, "Why Run?" He has decided, "While most teams have to run to keep defenses honest, I have Moss and Brady, so I don't need to think like that. I am going to run only when I have to, try to stop me."
> I decided the worst sports moments of my life are as follows, from 5th most painful to most painful:
5. The moment when I missed a penalty kick in a soccer game that would have sent us to "States". To this day I don't even know what that means. But I know I felt pain and my parents bought me Dairy Queen. That Dairy Queen is now a bank, and I don't like soccer, but it stuck with me as exceptionally painful.
4. Coming in 3rd in my league championship in Javelin my Sr. Year, after having gone completely undefeated in the league during the entire Spring Season. I went into the event as the #1 seed, so to speak, and knew, knew, with barely above average throws I could squeak it out. I was right, but I threw below average all day. I faulted on my best throw, and the championship slipped through my fingers. That had no silver lining, I learned no lesson. The next week I came in 2nd in Eastern Massachusetts to qualify for states, so it felt more like a nuisance to lose than a life lesson. That still really irks me.
3. Twisted Metal Ultimate losing to GOAT in the Game to go to Nationals in '04. The most painful personal sports moment of my life, but it really had so many silver linings:
a) I used this a big time motivational tool for myself personally in my career, and even developed a presentation based on this weekend to get myself a job in the Spring of '05
b) The Boston Ultimate landscape was changed forever by Metal, and I am proud to say I had something to do with that. This game was so entirely huge for everyone who played in it, and it really was an important game for dozens of close friends.
c) The game itself was so remarkable I was so proud to be a part of it. Tons of fans, tons of spectators, those who were watching and playing got a clear understanding of what Ultimate meant to all of us, and the comraderie I felt with my team and the opposing team during and after this loss was second to none.
2. Red Sox lose to the Yankees in the '03 ALCS on a walk off homer by Boone. This feels like light years away, and I know I was blown away so completely by this loss. I didn't speak for I think almost 24 hours aside from a "goodbye" to my parents as I left their house. I was damaged to a point where I just stopped letting sports on a professional level get to me that much. I realized I didn't have it in me to feel that way for the rest of my life. Wow, I used to really care about baseball.
1. Patriots lose to the Giants in the Super Bowl. At the time I didn't let it kill me, and I remember laughing about it and not being disheartened to the point where I was upset. I think that I can't get that feeling anymore for sports, that time of my life is past, which is fine by me. But it is criminal that they lost, the "what if's" about that game extend far beyond the game itself - the perfect season lost, the blemish on Bill and Brady's records in the playoffs, and just the incongruity of it all. It makes no sense to this day, and it never will. A blight on our sports life that is unreasonable.
> Laurence Maroney is doing everything he can to separate himself from the likes of Taylor, Green-Ellis and Morris. Wow, this Pats team is so stacked.
> Another heady play, Derrick Burgess stayed home, didn't rush into the backfield, and chased Jason Campbell back about 25 yards before he had to throw it away. All these guys do is their job, over and over and over again.
I can't gush anymore over this team, that'll have to wait for week 1.
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