So my wife (The Potato Queen) and I are in the midst of our annual “BIG PROJECT”. This year it involves making a dry creek bed in the back yard. It is also acting as a sort of half assed French Drain, since we have had water problems (flooded basement twice in the past three years, resulting in us losing our insurance – Thanks Evil Erie Insurance Company!). We had to dig a 92 foot long, 2 foot wide, 8 inch deep trench mostly by hand. And then we had to fill that trench with Rocks. I got Rocks. Lots and lots and lots of Rocks! Five and a half TONS of them! Big ones. Little ones. Ones the size of your head. And some smallish boulders too. We’ve been joking about building a miniature Stonehenge in our yard. Or at least a really big stone circle, like they have in Ireland all over the place. Stonehenge is right out, but there will be a stone circle. We have a little one now, but I am trying to find a good spot to build a larger one. Because I am weird, and because I love all things Irish (except Bailey’s Irish Cream – yuck!). I may build one in the park near our house too and see if anyone notices.
And speaking of Ireland….I once met a man in an Irish Pub, who stopped me and my wife and asked “So, is this yer wife then?”. To which I answered yes. He then said “Well don’t fook it up!” One of my favorite stories. I’ve fooked lots of things up, but not my marriage, thank goodness.
And speaking of fooking it up…..I had a grand scheme on how to make piles and piles of money this year. Mostly by playing Apple stock. I expected a run-up to near $500 or so early in the year, and then some profit taking to bring it back down to $475 or so, and then a run-up to $550 by mid-year, and then maybe a drop during the slow summer months to $525, and then a rush up to a price of $600 at year-end. I was going to buy on the dips and sell when it hit my benchmarks. I did NOT expect it would go from $450 or so all the way to $640 without much of a break. I sold a third of my steak around $500, and so lost out on thousands of dollars of profit. I fooked it up. So now I am re-evaluating. It has dropped back to around $610 from the high of nearly $645. I think it hits $700 around Christmas now, but it may be range-bound between $600 and $630 for a few months. But the risk is that it breaks $600. If it goes below that it might even go back down to $575 from some fear selling and profit taking. I think I dip my toes back in and buy a few shares at $605 - $608 and then wait and see how earnings season goes before the usual summer slowdown.
And speaking of summer…..I am so ready for summer! In two weeks I’ll be in Miami. Chillin’ on the beach and drinking mojitos at Larios on South Beach! Also, I love to cook out, as I may have mentioned here a time or two. I own three grills. One gas grill (which I have nearly destroyed – more about that later) one kettle grill, and one barrel smoker. The latter is my favorite. I love to put a couple racks of ribs on there and maybe some sausages and/or a pork shoulder and make enough food for the entire week. Or to feed a bunch of people. Living in Virginia means I can grill/smoke nearly all year round. I used the smoker for the first time last week. Just one rack of ribs for me and the wife. They cooked for about 5 hours and came out fantastic. I would use the smoker all the time if I could. Chicken. Ribs. Sausages. Pork shoulder. Brisket. Ducks. If I can find some good beef ribs I may try them this week.
Which brings me back to rocks, sort of. Because I also need to replace the pavers on which my grills sit. I want to pretty up that area so that it isn’t an eyesore next to the cool dry creek bed. And I’m jealous of all the cool rocks my wife has now. So I am going to pull up the plain concrete pavers that the grills sit upon and replace them with something nicer from the local quarry. The guy at the quarry is going to laugh when he sees us again so soon. We’ve been there 3 or 4 times already to order or pick up the 5.5 tons of rocks for the creek bed. 5th time’s the charm!?!
Showing posts with label By Mal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label By Mal. Show all posts
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Whacking the Holly. Or "Cut that Bush! Cut that bush! Cut that Bush!" Or "Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"
I used to hate Peyton Manning. As a lifelong Patriots fan how could I not? I used to look forward to seeing him make "The Manning Face" when things went wrong. Only I don't any more. First I learned grudging respect for the man when he finally started beating the Pats in the playoffs. Then I grew bemused and even amused by the proliferation of commercials he appeared in. That grew into actully looking forward to those commercials. Say what you will about him, he has a strange and appealing presence in them. He certainly is much better at it than Tom Brady is. Brady may be one of the best football players ever (as is Peyton) but he is not much of a pitch man. I could see Peyton in one of those great old Milller Light commercials with Rosie Greer and Bob Ueker, but not Tom. Finally I found myself actually liking Peyton. His teams weren't as much of a threat to the Pats, and he was getting nearer the end of his career, and his commercials were funny. Today I feel a bit sorry for him because he was released by the Colts and may never be the same quarterback he was becuase of injury. But whether he plays, and plays well again, I will always remember one particular commercial he made in which he went to various businesses and cheered on the workers there. Most famously he cheered on a butcher with the phrase "Cut that Meat! Cut that Meat! Cut that Meat!" Wherever he ends up next year I wish him well (except if he plays against the Pats).
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Silence is Golden.....I Hope
My wife, my mother and I went to see The Artist the other day. I have to admit that I was not terribly enthusiastic. It looked like it would be just a gimmick; a silent and black and white movie. Not that I dislike either. I have watched and enjoyed several silent movies, including at least two that were referenced in The Artist. One of my all-time favorite movies, UP, goes all but silent (except for the score, which makes me weep pavlovian-like almost every time I hear it) for more than 10 minutes early on to tell you almost the entire story of the main character’s life up to that point. I consider those ten minutes among the best ever put on film. And I grew up watching movies mostly on a black and white TV, so color has never been a necessity to my enjoyment of movies. At least two black and white films are among my personal favorites, Stalag 17 and Young Frankenstein.
My wife and my mother were both pretty enthusiastic about watching it though, so I went along. And within a few minutes of the start of the movie I was totally hooked. I may have to re-do my list of 10 favorite movies of all time. Is it deserving of a Best Picture Oscar? I’d say yes, but I don’t have a vote.
The opening scene reminded me immediately of Metropolis, if only because of the science fictiony electrical doo-hicky the hero of the movie within a movie is wearing, with the requisite bolts of lightning coming off it. He is being tortured, and yelling “I won’t speak! I won’t say a word!”. And therein lies the problem for the actor George Valentin. He is a silent movie star in a time when talkies are about to become all the rage.
I won’t go into a lot of detail about how George see his star fall with the advent of talkies, or how the young woman he accidentally helps get into the movie business becomes a rising star in the new medium. Suffice it to say that while the material may be familiar to anyone who has seen Sunset Boulevard or Singin’ in the Rain, it is done with such wit, humor and panache that it makes said material new. Jean Dujardin as George Valentin is a revelation. He’s Douglas Fairbanks and Gene Kelly all rolled into one, with a little Chaplin thrown in for good measure. He is, I suspect, what Jim Carey always wanted to be. You find yourself rooting for him right from the start, even as he descends into despair and near madness. And Beranice Bejo isn't just another pretty face. She is beautiful, yes, but she is also a terrific actress. There is a lot going on in that face besides a pretty smile. Her eyes convey a myriad of emotions without saying a word. Like the Nora Desmond in Sunset Boulevard she and Dejardin don’t need dialog. They have faces that tell you all you need to know.
Everyone involved in this film is terrific, from John Goodman to Uggie the Jack Russell Terrier, who steals every scene he is in. Of course my dog could do all those stunts too. He just doesn’t want to. The score is terrific, among the very best I have ever heard. My mother made a special note of it, and we all agreed that it would be tragic if it didn’t win an Oscar.
Near the end is one of my favorite moments in the movie. A completely broken man now, George stands outside a men’s haberdashery, looking at a set of clothes in the window. It is the white tie and black tails he used to wear in all of his movies. You see his face reflected in the window, superimposed just over the collar of that suit of clothes, and for a moment you see a wry smile on his face, as he remembers the man he used to be. It is an echo of the scene at the end of City Lights when Chaplin looks into the window of a flower shop, and remembers the little flower girl he once loved and lost. Both are poignant moments, beautifully rendered and made special only because of the talent of the two great performers. In both movies you sense that the director had a choice. End there, with that poignant moment, and garner the admiration of reviewers who love a sad or enigmatic ending, or move on and give the audience the happy ending they want.
It won’t spoil anything I think to say that the Artist gives you that well earned happy ending, although things continue pretty grimly for George for a while longer. How do they get there from that scene of a sad, broken man literally looking at the reflection of a past beyond reclaiming? I Know, But I’m Not Telling.
My wife and my mother were both pretty enthusiastic about watching it though, so I went along. And within a few minutes of the start of the movie I was totally hooked. I may have to re-do my list of 10 favorite movies of all time. Is it deserving of a Best Picture Oscar? I’d say yes, but I don’t have a vote.
The opening scene reminded me immediately of Metropolis, if only because of the science fictiony electrical doo-hicky the hero of the movie within a movie is wearing, with the requisite bolts of lightning coming off it. He is being tortured, and yelling “I won’t speak! I won’t say a word!”. And therein lies the problem for the actor George Valentin. He is a silent movie star in a time when talkies are about to become all the rage.
I won’t go into a lot of detail about how George see his star fall with the advent of talkies, or how the young woman he accidentally helps get into the movie business becomes a rising star in the new medium. Suffice it to say that while the material may be familiar to anyone who has seen Sunset Boulevard or Singin’ in the Rain, it is done with such wit, humor and panache that it makes said material new. Jean Dujardin as George Valentin is a revelation. He’s Douglas Fairbanks and Gene Kelly all rolled into one, with a little Chaplin thrown in for good measure. He is, I suspect, what Jim Carey always wanted to be. You find yourself rooting for him right from the start, even as he descends into despair and near madness. And Beranice Bejo isn't just another pretty face. She is beautiful, yes, but she is also a terrific actress. There is a lot going on in that face besides a pretty smile. Her eyes convey a myriad of emotions without saying a word. Like the Nora Desmond in Sunset Boulevard she and Dejardin don’t need dialog. They have faces that tell you all you need to know.
Everyone involved in this film is terrific, from John Goodman to Uggie the Jack Russell Terrier, who steals every scene he is in. Of course my dog could do all those stunts too. He just doesn’t want to. The score is terrific, among the very best I have ever heard. My mother made a special note of it, and we all agreed that it would be tragic if it didn’t win an Oscar.
Near the end is one of my favorite moments in the movie. A completely broken man now, George stands outside a men’s haberdashery, looking at a set of clothes in the window. It is the white tie and black tails he used to wear in all of his movies. You see his face reflected in the window, superimposed just over the collar of that suit of clothes, and for a moment you see a wry smile on his face, as he remembers the man he used to be. It is an echo of the scene at the end of City Lights when Chaplin looks into the window of a flower shop, and remembers the little flower girl he once loved and lost. Both are poignant moments, beautifully rendered and made special only because of the talent of the two great performers. In both movies you sense that the director had a choice. End there, with that poignant moment, and garner the admiration of reviewers who love a sad or enigmatic ending, or move on and give the audience the happy ending they want.
It won’t spoil anything I think to say that the Artist gives you that well earned happy ending, although things continue pretty grimly for George for a while longer. How do they get there from that scene of a sad, broken man literally looking at the reflection of a past beyond reclaiming? I Know, But I’m Not Telling.
Friday, February 17, 2012
When Change is a Bad Thing
My wife and I went to out favorite restaurant last night. We went with high hopes, but in the end were both saddened and disappointed.
2941 became our favorite restaurant about 3 years ago, when we went to it for our second wedding anniversary. We had talked about going for some time because it was literally in our neighborhood, being just a mile or so from our house, but (at least for me) the menu was a little intimidating, and I couldn’t justify the price for food I may not appreciate. And I was a bit skeptical of a ‘High End” restaurant that was in the basement of an office building in the suburbs.
But we both love food, and over the past 5 or 6 years we have made it something of a goal to improve our pallets. We also watched a lot of Top Chef and did a lot of drooling. We started picking out restaurants that made the top 50 in the Washingtonian Magazine rankings. We were never disappointed. We had some fabulous meals, from Contemporary American and French, to Italian, to Thai, and everything in between. I ate things that made my mother shudder when I told her about them. Raw, live scallops. Beef marrow. Sweetmeats. Squid. And many others.
Finally we decided it was time to try 2941, which at one point had reached as high as #2 on the listing of best restaurants in the area (behind only The Inn at Little Washington, which we have not tried yet, but will one day). I was still a bit skeptical because of the location, but it kept getting such rave reviews that it had to be tried. Oh, how I now begrudge those lost two years that we could have been regulars there, as we would become from that very first night!
My first impressions were that, despite being in a bad location the restaurant was quite attractive. It was quiet, with a nice elegant bar off to the side of the dining area, beautiful artwork on the walls (naked ladies are always a plus!) and chandeliers made of Murano glass hanging from the ceiling. One entire side of the restaurant has glass walls too, so that you could see the small park and pond next to the building. At night there were lights highlighting some artwork too, which added to the ambiance. The wait staff all wore black suits and ties, and a sommelier could be seen going from table to table recommending wines from a vast list to go with your meal.
We were both immediately impressed with the bar. Whoever the mixologist was he had talent. We both tried one of their specialty drinks, and were glad that we did. In future visits I would also try one of their impressive number of single malt scotches. They have everything from 12 year old Glenfidich (moderately priced) to 21 year old The Balvenie (super expensive, but so worth it). The bartenders at 2941 have all been attentive, generous and easy to talk to. The bar at 2941 may not be a place where everybody knows your name, but they remember the faces of those who have been there, and always make you feel welcome. Cheers to them.
On to the food!
I wish I could remember everything we ate that first night. We decided that as this was a special occasion we would treat ourselves. And what better way than by choosing the chef’s “tasting menu”. This menu consisted of 5 courses. An amuse bouche (in french, a “small bite”), an appetizer, a fish, a meat and finally a desert. While my wife does not drink wine I chose to have the wine pairings with my meal. A small (3 ounce) glass of wine that went with each course.
From the beginning we were astonished. The food was as good as anyplace we have ever been, including 1789 in Washington DC and American Seasons in Nantucket Massachusetts. The presentation was beautiful, and the food was sublime; restrained where restraint was called for and bold where boldness was necessary. You could tell they were using great ingredients, even if you couldn’t identify them all. And a lot of those ingredients were local, which was a plus. I remember in particular the “Lobster Roll”. Let me say now that I do not like lobster (being the worst New Englander ever) but this was among the very best things I had ever had up to that point (and still has a place of honor in my memory). Fresh lobster (no bread here; this isn’t Virginia Beach after all) rolled up and placed on a plate with Rhubarb gelee. Rhubarb! Something my wife says can be found on the side of the road in West Virginia! So simple. So beautiful to look at. So incredibly delicious. And this was an appetizer!
Time and again my wife and I would find excuses to go to 2941, despite the chance that we might (and have) drop $300 on a single meal, even before the tip. Time and again we would marvel at the quality and inventiveness of the food. I grew up with very simple tastes in food, but in large part to 2941 and my wife’s insistence that everything must be tried (twice!) I have grown fearless about food. It is one of the few things that I have no hesitation spending money on, because a good meal can nourish not only the body, but the soul as well.
Shall I wax rhapsodic about the black sea bass that I loved so much that I had to have it on two consecutive trips (which were very close together, as they changed the menu sometimes DAILY, leaving some things on the menu for no more than a couple of weeks at most)? Or I could tell you that the truffle popcorn at the bar was so good that my wife and I started talking about how we could steal some of it. Or I could regale you with stories of how we would go “just to have a drink at the bar” and ended up eating dinner there instead because we made the mistake of looking at the menu. And almost from the beginning we were nearly always given something complimentary, either an additional amuse bouche at the beginning of the meal, or more often an extra desert (or two) at the end. And oh, the deserts! Truffles with gold leaf! Homemade marshmallow! Baklava! Oh, my!
So it was with mixed emotions that we heard a couple of months ago that they were changing the format of the restaurant from high end French cuisine to more moderately priced Mediterranean. We understood though. In a tough economy they must have been having a difficult time. The restaurant was pricey, and badly situated (again, in the basement of an office building in the suburbs!). They must have hoped that by making it a little more reasonably priced, and by making it a slightly more casual place (no more suits and ties for the wait staff, just vests, and a TV in the bar where there were now happy hours from 4-7) it would draw in more people.
It seems to have worked. My wife and I have been there twice since they re-opened in mid January. Once just for a drink and again last night for dinner. The bar is still very nice, but is now more crowded and louder to the point where they have constructed a barrier between it and the dining area to minimize the noise level there. And the specialty drinks are still great, as are the bartenders (one of whom let me have a tiny drink of Absinthe for free when I asked if they really had it; something I had always wanted to try partly because it used to be illegal). No longer are most of the people at the bar waiting for their table. Now most of them seem to be there just to have a drink and maybe something off the new Bar Menu.
As for the dining room, I miss the white table cloths. I miss the waiters and waitresses being dressed formally, which made me always want to wear a suit and tie also, so as not to feel underdressed. I like the new light fixtures, but they aren’t as cool as the old ones. At least the naked ladies on the wall remain.
But the food. We decided to make our own tasting menu, since they no longer offer that option as a regular feature of the menu. To say we were disappointed would be to understate things. Part of the problem is that we had had so much mind-bending food there that anything less was bound to be disappointing. But there were some serious flaws. We won’t even go into the missing artesian breads (a small thing, but small things become larger when they are gone).
We shared the Mac and Cheese Croquettes. They were ok, but something I might have expected at a very good pub. They lacked seasoning (salt), and they came very plainly presented on a small white plate.
Next we each had an appetizer. Lobster and fois gras risotto for my wife, and a De-composed Chicken Salad for me. Both were a bit underwhelming. My wife had had similar dishes elsewhere and been wowed by it. Not here. My Chicken Salad was made up of three small deep fried chicken croquettes (more deep fried food? At 2941?) with pancetta, greens, and a poached egg. It was too big a portion for an appetizer. The chicken was ok, but again, nothing that you couldn’t find at a good pub, and the poached egg (which was the best part of the dish) was hidden at the bottom, instead of being on top of the greens where it belonged. And again, it was not well seasoned. The pancetta and the chicken both added salt to the dish, but there was no pepper to offset it, making it out of balance.
Then came the pasta dish. We shared an appetizer portion of homemade pasta with chanterelles and mascarpone. This harkened back to the best of 2941. The pasta was perfectly made, and the earthiness of the mushrooms was perfectly balanced by the cream sauce. This was a keeper, and gave us hope.
Then came the entrees. Bay scallops with Buddha Hand confit for my wife, and veal with fois gras for me. Again, I have to say that while they were fine, they were not Fine Dining. The scallops were very small (not unusual with bay scallops) but seemed a little overwhelmed by the confit and the citrus-y sauce they were paired with. My veal was cooked perfectly medium rare (as requested) but the presentation was a jumble, with everything just piled up in the middle of the plate, and it too was overwhelmed by the sauce, which was both too sweet and too salty for my tastes. Like many high end restaurants 2941 never had salt and pepper on the tables. It was never needed. But for the third time in 4 courses I felt the lack of them. And the over-saucing was disturbing. There was simply too much of it, as if the chef was afraid to let the food stand on its own. There was no balance or restraint shown.
We both declined desert, but as is their want they provided one (or again, two) complimentary. One was a pistachio “milk shake” which was actually pretty good (at least my wife, who ate most of it, thought so). The other was a “beignet”, which was actually no more than a honey-dipped donut hole. On the whole I could have done without. Or gone to dunkin’ donuts for some the next morning.
Had we eaten at someplace else I think we would have thought “it was ok, but not some place we need to rush back to”. And while the cost of the meal was less than we were used to it felt overpriced. Another first for 2941. Until last night I had never balked at the bill. The experience was always worth it. Not so last night.
Last night felt like something beautiful and special had been taken from us. 2941 was our “special” place. A high end restaurant right in our own little town where we went to celebrate anniversaries and birthdays, and New Years, and…well, Thursday. A place where we felt special, because we were eating special food in an elegant setting and being served by true professionals. And let me digress here by saying the wait staff is still excellent. We had a new waiter last night, who was very good, and saw a couple others who had served us before (one of whom came over twice to say hello and ask us how we were doing). The new 2941 is a nice restaurant, but while we will probably still go there once in a while (after all, they still have that awesome popcorn at the bar) we are both resigned to the fact that we may need to find a new special place.
MAL
2941 became our favorite restaurant about 3 years ago, when we went to it for our second wedding anniversary. We had talked about going for some time because it was literally in our neighborhood, being just a mile or so from our house, but (at least for me) the menu was a little intimidating, and I couldn’t justify the price for food I may not appreciate. And I was a bit skeptical of a ‘High End” restaurant that was in the basement of an office building in the suburbs.
But we both love food, and over the past 5 or 6 years we have made it something of a goal to improve our pallets. We also watched a lot of Top Chef and did a lot of drooling. We started picking out restaurants that made the top 50 in the Washingtonian Magazine rankings. We were never disappointed. We had some fabulous meals, from Contemporary American and French, to Italian, to Thai, and everything in between. I ate things that made my mother shudder when I told her about them. Raw, live scallops. Beef marrow. Sweetmeats. Squid. And many others.
Finally we decided it was time to try 2941, which at one point had reached as high as #2 on the listing of best restaurants in the area (behind only The Inn at Little Washington, which we have not tried yet, but will one day). I was still a bit skeptical because of the location, but it kept getting such rave reviews that it had to be tried. Oh, how I now begrudge those lost two years that we could have been regulars there, as we would become from that very first night!
My first impressions were that, despite being in a bad location the restaurant was quite attractive. It was quiet, with a nice elegant bar off to the side of the dining area, beautiful artwork on the walls (naked ladies are always a plus!) and chandeliers made of Murano glass hanging from the ceiling. One entire side of the restaurant has glass walls too, so that you could see the small park and pond next to the building. At night there were lights highlighting some artwork too, which added to the ambiance. The wait staff all wore black suits and ties, and a sommelier could be seen going from table to table recommending wines from a vast list to go with your meal.
We were both immediately impressed with the bar. Whoever the mixologist was he had talent. We both tried one of their specialty drinks, and were glad that we did. In future visits I would also try one of their impressive number of single malt scotches. They have everything from 12 year old Glenfidich (moderately priced) to 21 year old The Balvenie (super expensive, but so worth it). The bartenders at 2941 have all been attentive, generous and easy to talk to. The bar at 2941 may not be a place where everybody knows your name, but they remember the faces of those who have been there, and always make you feel welcome. Cheers to them.
On to the food!
I wish I could remember everything we ate that first night. We decided that as this was a special occasion we would treat ourselves. And what better way than by choosing the chef’s “tasting menu”. This menu consisted of 5 courses. An amuse bouche (in french, a “small bite”), an appetizer, a fish, a meat and finally a desert. While my wife does not drink wine I chose to have the wine pairings with my meal. A small (3 ounce) glass of wine that went with each course.
From the beginning we were astonished. The food was as good as anyplace we have ever been, including 1789 in Washington DC and American Seasons in Nantucket Massachusetts. The presentation was beautiful, and the food was sublime; restrained where restraint was called for and bold where boldness was necessary. You could tell they were using great ingredients, even if you couldn’t identify them all. And a lot of those ingredients were local, which was a plus. I remember in particular the “Lobster Roll”. Let me say now that I do not like lobster (being the worst New Englander ever) but this was among the very best things I had ever had up to that point (and still has a place of honor in my memory). Fresh lobster (no bread here; this isn’t Virginia Beach after all) rolled up and placed on a plate with Rhubarb gelee. Rhubarb! Something my wife says can be found on the side of the road in West Virginia! So simple. So beautiful to look at. So incredibly delicious. And this was an appetizer!
Time and again my wife and I would find excuses to go to 2941, despite the chance that we might (and have) drop $300 on a single meal, even before the tip. Time and again we would marvel at the quality and inventiveness of the food. I grew up with very simple tastes in food, but in large part to 2941 and my wife’s insistence that everything must be tried (twice!) I have grown fearless about food. It is one of the few things that I have no hesitation spending money on, because a good meal can nourish not only the body, but the soul as well.
Shall I wax rhapsodic about the black sea bass that I loved so much that I had to have it on two consecutive trips (which were very close together, as they changed the menu sometimes DAILY, leaving some things on the menu for no more than a couple of weeks at most)? Or I could tell you that the truffle popcorn at the bar was so good that my wife and I started talking about how we could steal some of it. Or I could regale you with stories of how we would go “just to have a drink at the bar” and ended up eating dinner there instead because we made the mistake of looking at the menu. And almost from the beginning we were nearly always given something complimentary, either an additional amuse bouche at the beginning of the meal, or more often an extra desert (or two) at the end. And oh, the deserts! Truffles with gold leaf! Homemade marshmallow! Baklava! Oh, my!
So it was with mixed emotions that we heard a couple of months ago that they were changing the format of the restaurant from high end French cuisine to more moderately priced Mediterranean. We understood though. In a tough economy they must have been having a difficult time. The restaurant was pricey, and badly situated (again, in the basement of an office building in the suburbs!). They must have hoped that by making it a little more reasonably priced, and by making it a slightly more casual place (no more suits and ties for the wait staff, just vests, and a TV in the bar where there were now happy hours from 4-7) it would draw in more people.
It seems to have worked. My wife and I have been there twice since they re-opened in mid January. Once just for a drink and again last night for dinner. The bar is still very nice, but is now more crowded and louder to the point where they have constructed a barrier between it and the dining area to minimize the noise level there. And the specialty drinks are still great, as are the bartenders (one of whom let me have a tiny drink of Absinthe for free when I asked if they really had it; something I had always wanted to try partly because it used to be illegal). No longer are most of the people at the bar waiting for their table. Now most of them seem to be there just to have a drink and maybe something off the new Bar Menu.
As for the dining room, I miss the white table cloths. I miss the waiters and waitresses being dressed formally, which made me always want to wear a suit and tie also, so as not to feel underdressed. I like the new light fixtures, but they aren’t as cool as the old ones. At least the naked ladies on the wall remain.
But the food. We decided to make our own tasting menu, since they no longer offer that option as a regular feature of the menu. To say we were disappointed would be to understate things. Part of the problem is that we had had so much mind-bending food there that anything less was bound to be disappointing. But there were some serious flaws. We won’t even go into the missing artesian breads (a small thing, but small things become larger when they are gone).
We shared the Mac and Cheese Croquettes. They were ok, but something I might have expected at a very good pub. They lacked seasoning (salt), and they came very plainly presented on a small white plate.
Next we each had an appetizer. Lobster and fois gras risotto for my wife, and a De-composed Chicken Salad for me. Both were a bit underwhelming. My wife had had similar dishes elsewhere and been wowed by it. Not here. My Chicken Salad was made up of three small deep fried chicken croquettes (more deep fried food? At 2941?) with pancetta, greens, and a poached egg. It was too big a portion for an appetizer. The chicken was ok, but again, nothing that you couldn’t find at a good pub, and the poached egg (which was the best part of the dish) was hidden at the bottom, instead of being on top of the greens where it belonged. And again, it was not well seasoned. The pancetta and the chicken both added salt to the dish, but there was no pepper to offset it, making it out of balance.
Then came the pasta dish. We shared an appetizer portion of homemade pasta with chanterelles and mascarpone. This harkened back to the best of 2941. The pasta was perfectly made, and the earthiness of the mushrooms was perfectly balanced by the cream sauce. This was a keeper, and gave us hope.
Then came the entrees. Bay scallops with Buddha Hand confit for my wife, and veal with fois gras for me. Again, I have to say that while they were fine, they were not Fine Dining. The scallops were very small (not unusual with bay scallops) but seemed a little overwhelmed by the confit and the citrus-y sauce they were paired with. My veal was cooked perfectly medium rare (as requested) but the presentation was a jumble, with everything just piled up in the middle of the plate, and it too was overwhelmed by the sauce, which was both too sweet and too salty for my tastes. Like many high end restaurants 2941 never had salt and pepper on the tables. It was never needed. But for the third time in 4 courses I felt the lack of them. And the over-saucing was disturbing. There was simply too much of it, as if the chef was afraid to let the food stand on its own. There was no balance or restraint shown.
We both declined desert, but as is their want they provided one (or again, two) complimentary. One was a pistachio “milk shake” which was actually pretty good (at least my wife, who ate most of it, thought so). The other was a “beignet”, which was actually no more than a honey-dipped donut hole. On the whole I could have done without. Or gone to dunkin’ donuts for some the next morning.
Had we eaten at someplace else I think we would have thought “it was ok, but not some place we need to rush back to”. And while the cost of the meal was less than we were used to it felt overpriced. Another first for 2941. Until last night I had never balked at the bill. The experience was always worth it. Not so last night.
Last night felt like something beautiful and special had been taken from us. 2941 was our “special” place. A high end restaurant right in our own little town where we went to celebrate anniversaries and birthdays, and New Years, and…well, Thursday. A place where we felt special, because we were eating special food in an elegant setting and being served by true professionals. And let me digress here by saying the wait staff is still excellent. We had a new waiter last night, who was very good, and saw a couple others who had served us before (one of whom came over twice to say hello and ask us how we were doing). The new 2941 is a nice restaurant, but while we will probably still go there once in a while (after all, they still have that awesome popcorn at the bar) we are both resigned to the fact that we may need to find a new special place.
MAL
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Bill and Tom, meet Randolph and Mortimer
As the last seconds ticked off the clock in Super Bowl XVI a lot of things went through my mind. Chief among them was “Nnnnnnoooooooo!” It felt like the death of everything, sports-wise. The improbable run of excellence of all 4 of the Boston teams began with a the 2001 Patriots, who came out of nowhere behind a quarterback that nobody else wanted, and featured a bunch of guys that other teams had given up on. Since then the Patriots have gone from beloved underdogs to the reviled overlords of the NFL. Belichick was too arrogant, they said. Brady was too pretty. Bob Kraft too powerful. And they just won too much. And then along came “spygate”, which cast the Patriots, and Belichick and Brady in particular, as villains.
And what have the Pats done since then? Won more games than any other franchise (including an 11-5 year with a guy at quarterback that had not played a game since HIGH SCHOOL). Been to two Super Bowls. Yes, they lost them both, and people point to that and say “see, they can’t win without cheating!”. But they got there, which is a lot more than can be said for most teams. And they lost because they played a team that is exceptionally well coached, and matches up very well with the Pats, and because Tom Brady may only be 95% of what he used to be, and because other coaches have maybe closed the gap with Belichick in terms of game-planning. But they will still be a very good team for years, and will have a chance at another title before Brady calls it a career. I tell myself that, and it feels true.
And yet in my heart…..in the aftermath of another heartbreaking defeat I could not handle the truth. All I could see in my mind’s eye is Tom getting another year older, and maybe a little less effective than he was when we were winning, and a team that may not have as much heart (which this year’s team had in spades) or talent (Wes Welker could be gone, as could Matt Light. - two huge parts of the team) next year. If they don’t get to the SB again next year Tom will be yet another year older. And then maybe their window of opportunity will close, and they’ll just be another good team that might be good enough to make the playoffs, but not to win it all. And when Tom eventually retires maybe they just go back to being an also-ran. This is what kept me up the other night, wondering if we’ve seen the end of the Patriots as a serious contender. It reminded me of the scene late in the Eddie Murphy/Dan Ackroyd movie “Trading Places”. They both are less than sympathetic characters in the beginning of the movie. In fact, they’re both jerks, before being redeemed and made to be the heroes, defeating the evil Duke And Duke (sort of like how Eli and Tom Coughlin were not very popular, even in New York, until they won the SB while defeating the evil Belichick and Brady). In the penultimate scene in the movie Eddie and Dan corner the market on Frozen Orange Juice, using stolen, proprietary information that was supposed to be used by Duke and Duke brothers (yes, a sort of spygate for the commodities market) , the firm for which Eddie and Dan had worked until they were framed and disgraced by D&D. But D&D were given false data after Eddie and Dan stole the information. The result as the market closes for the day is that Eddie and Dan are made fabulously wealthy. The Dukes on the other hand, are bankrupted, and lose their seats on the NYSE. One of the Dukes has a heart attack on the floor of the exchange. The other Duke rants “ You can’t do this to us! There’s been a Duke on the board of this exchange for 100 years! We built this exchange! Turn those machines back on! Bring back those traders! Nnnnoooooooo!“
That’s how I felt on Sunday night, as if the Patriots had been kicked out of the top echelon (losing their seats in the NFLSE - NFL Stock Exchange - as it were). As if Bill Belichick had been left stunned to the point of near death by the experience, while Tom Brady (or his wife) was left to rant at the heavens for the return of something that is lost and gone: “You can’t do this to us! We’ve been the best team in this league for more than 10 years! The popularity of this league is due in large part to us! We built this league! Turn those lights back on! Bring back the Giants so we can play this game again! Nnnooooo!”
My head tells me that the Patriots will still have more chances to win the Super Bowl though. That you can’t keep B&B down forever (as was the case with the Dukes. In the epilogue of another Eddie Murphy movie “Coming to America” they are two destitute bums living on the street, only to get a second chance when someone hands them a stack of money and one of them says “we’re back!). Would I trade places with a fan from Green Bay, or New Orleans, or even New York? No. Who knows what will happen in the future. Maybe someone will hand the Patriots a stack of money, in the form of a stud defensive lineman, or a great wide receiver, in this year’s draft. If so, like the Dukes, I believe that Belichick and Brady will be back.
And what have the Pats done since then? Won more games than any other franchise (including an 11-5 year with a guy at quarterback that had not played a game since HIGH SCHOOL). Been to two Super Bowls. Yes, they lost them both, and people point to that and say “see, they can’t win without cheating!”. But they got there, which is a lot more than can be said for most teams. And they lost because they played a team that is exceptionally well coached, and matches up very well with the Pats, and because Tom Brady may only be 95% of what he used to be, and because other coaches have maybe closed the gap with Belichick in terms of game-planning. But they will still be a very good team for years, and will have a chance at another title before Brady calls it a career. I tell myself that, and it feels true.
And yet in my heart…..in the aftermath of another heartbreaking defeat I could not handle the truth. All I could see in my mind’s eye is Tom getting another year older, and maybe a little less effective than he was when we were winning, and a team that may not have as much heart (which this year’s team had in spades) or talent (Wes Welker could be gone, as could Matt Light. - two huge parts of the team) next year. If they don’t get to the SB again next year Tom will be yet another year older. And then maybe their window of opportunity will close, and they’ll just be another good team that might be good enough to make the playoffs, but not to win it all. And when Tom eventually retires maybe they just go back to being an also-ran. This is what kept me up the other night, wondering if we’ve seen the end of the Patriots as a serious contender. It reminded me of the scene late in the Eddie Murphy/Dan Ackroyd movie “Trading Places”. They both are less than sympathetic characters in the beginning of the movie. In fact, they’re both jerks, before being redeemed and made to be the heroes, defeating the evil Duke And Duke (sort of like how Eli and Tom Coughlin were not very popular, even in New York, until they won the SB while defeating the evil Belichick and Brady). In the penultimate scene in the movie Eddie and Dan corner the market on Frozen Orange Juice, using stolen, proprietary information that was supposed to be used by Duke and Duke brothers (yes, a sort of spygate for the commodities market) , the firm for which Eddie and Dan had worked until they were framed and disgraced by D&D. But D&D were given false data after Eddie and Dan stole the information. The result as the market closes for the day is that Eddie and Dan are made fabulously wealthy. The Dukes on the other hand, are bankrupted, and lose their seats on the NYSE. One of the Dukes has a heart attack on the floor of the exchange. The other Duke rants “ You can’t do this to us! There’s been a Duke on the board of this exchange for 100 years! We built this exchange! Turn those machines back on! Bring back those traders! Nnnnoooooooo!“
That’s how I felt on Sunday night, as if the Patriots had been kicked out of the top echelon (losing their seats in the NFLSE - NFL Stock Exchange - as it were). As if Bill Belichick had been left stunned to the point of near death by the experience, while Tom Brady (or his wife) was left to rant at the heavens for the return of something that is lost and gone: “You can’t do this to us! We’ve been the best team in this league for more than 10 years! The popularity of this league is due in large part to us! We built this league! Turn those lights back on! Bring back the Giants so we can play this game again! Nnnooooo!”
My head tells me that the Patriots will still have more chances to win the Super Bowl though. That you can’t keep B&B down forever (as was the case with the Dukes. In the epilogue of another Eddie Murphy movie “Coming to America” they are two destitute bums living on the street, only to get a second chance when someone hands them a stack of money and one of them says “we’re back!). Would I trade places with a fan from Green Bay, or New Orleans, or even New York? No. Who knows what will happen in the future. Maybe someone will hand the Patriots a stack of money, in the form of a stud defensive lineman, or a great wide receiver, in this year’s draft. If so, like the Dukes, I believe that Belichick and Brady will be back.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
I'm not happy Bob! Not. Happy.
Ever see the Pixar movie The Incredibles? There is a scene early on when Mr. Incredible, now an insurance agent, is told by his boss that insurance companies are “not in the business of providing insurance, but in the business of making money for (their) stockholders.”
They want your money, but woe betides the hapless customer who makes more than a single claim. Even if that claim is not paid, it will go against you, and you could have your insurance cancelled unceremoniously. Or, as in our case, with a form letter. That’s right, even if they deny your claim, the simple fact that you make one can get your insurance cancelled. This is our story.
In 1994 my wife took out a policy with Erie Insurance, for Auto/Condo/Renter’s insurance. Between that time and today she has made two very small claims on her auto insurance. Once when someone keyed her car, and this past year when the creek across the street from our house flooded and caused minor damage to her car. Both of these claims were for a few hundred dollars. When I moved to Virginia in 2006 I switched my insurance to Erie also, so that it would all be bundled together.
In 2007 my wife and I bought a house. According to the letter we received Erie asserts that we made a claim for water damage in 2007. Neither my wife nor I recall any such claim. In any case, no payout was made. But it still counts as Strike One against us.
In 2010 we made a claim when the drain pipe in our neighborhood backed up into our basement, causing damage to the basement and the loss of thousands of dollars of personal property. This claim was paid out. Strike Two.
In 2011 we also made a claim, when a severe rainstorm caused water to seep into our basement again, although this time is was simple rainwater damage, and our agent said our insurance did not cover it, so again, there was no payout made. STRIKE THREE! Goodbye insurance! We got a letter in the mail the other day saying that “due to frequency of claims” our insurance was being Non-Renewed.
So in essence, over an 18 YEAR period, my wife has made two very small claims on her auto coverage, and we have made (at least as far as we are concerned) 2 claims for water damage, only one of which was accepted and paid out. And yet I am now told by my agent that she can find no regular insurance company that will write our Homeowners policy with the 3 claims. She is having to go through one of her surplus lines companies, which is sure to cost us hundreds or thousands of dollars.
To say I am disappointed about the Non-renewal of our policy would be an understatement. Disgusted would be a better word. After 18 years and thousands of dollars in premiums, to have our insurance cancelled for “frequency of claims” seems excessive and unfair. I suspect that this decision was probably not made by an actual person, but by an actuarial table. If so, I suggest that in future they might want to have real people making decisions instead of programs.
We plan on never using Erie again (as if they’d even have us because we are so demanding, actually expecting an insurance company to, you know, give us INSURANCE when we PAY FOR IT). And we plan on telling everyone we know not to use them. We’ll be blogging. We’ll be posting on Facebook. And on Consumer’s Checkbook too. It may not help us, but maybe one person will see our story and be forewarned.
So just a word to the wise. Just because you are making those monthly payments doesn’t mean they can’t just cancel your insurance and bad mouth you to every other insurance company in the world if you are presumptuous enough to actually expect them to do what you have been paying them for, even if you’ve been doing so for decades. Remember, Insurance companies aren’t in the business of providing insurance. They are in the business of making money for their stockholders.
They want your money, but woe betides the hapless customer who makes more than a single claim. Even if that claim is not paid, it will go against you, and you could have your insurance cancelled unceremoniously. Or, as in our case, with a form letter. That’s right, even if they deny your claim, the simple fact that you make one can get your insurance cancelled. This is our story.
In 1994 my wife took out a policy with Erie Insurance, for Auto/Condo/Renter’s insurance. Between that time and today she has made two very small claims on her auto insurance. Once when someone keyed her car, and this past year when the creek across the street from our house flooded and caused minor damage to her car. Both of these claims were for a few hundred dollars. When I moved to Virginia in 2006 I switched my insurance to Erie also, so that it would all be bundled together.
In 2007 my wife and I bought a house. According to the letter we received Erie asserts that we made a claim for water damage in 2007. Neither my wife nor I recall any such claim. In any case, no payout was made. But it still counts as Strike One against us.
In 2010 we made a claim when the drain pipe in our neighborhood backed up into our basement, causing damage to the basement and the loss of thousands of dollars of personal property. This claim was paid out. Strike Two.
In 2011 we also made a claim, when a severe rainstorm caused water to seep into our basement again, although this time is was simple rainwater damage, and our agent said our insurance did not cover it, so again, there was no payout made. STRIKE THREE! Goodbye insurance! We got a letter in the mail the other day saying that “due to frequency of claims” our insurance was being Non-Renewed.
So in essence, over an 18 YEAR period, my wife has made two very small claims on her auto coverage, and we have made (at least as far as we are concerned) 2 claims for water damage, only one of which was accepted and paid out. And yet I am now told by my agent that she can find no regular insurance company that will write our Homeowners policy with the 3 claims. She is having to go through one of her surplus lines companies, which is sure to cost us hundreds or thousands of dollars.
To say I am disappointed about the Non-renewal of our policy would be an understatement. Disgusted would be a better word. After 18 years and thousands of dollars in premiums, to have our insurance cancelled for “frequency of claims” seems excessive and unfair. I suspect that this decision was probably not made by an actual person, but by an actuarial table. If so, I suggest that in future they might want to have real people making decisions instead of programs.
We plan on never using Erie again (as if they’d even have us because we are so demanding, actually expecting an insurance company to, you know, give us INSURANCE when we PAY FOR IT). And we plan on telling everyone we know not to use them. We’ll be blogging. We’ll be posting on Facebook. And on Consumer’s Checkbook too. It may not help us, but maybe one person will see our story and be forewarned.
So just a word to the wise. Just because you are making those monthly payments doesn’t mean they can’t just cancel your insurance and bad mouth you to every other insurance company in the world if you are presumptuous enough to actually expect them to do what you have been paying them for, even if you’ve been doing so for decades. Remember, Insurance companies aren’t in the business of providing insurance. They are in the business of making money for their stockholders.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The residue of design
So, I have been hearing people say that the Patriots got lucky on Sunday. I agree. They were lucky that the potential game-tying field goal was missed, and that the potential game-winning touchdown was missed. But luck is the residue of design. If you think that the better teams are more often more lucky than the bad teams you would be right. But they are not good because they are lucky. They are lucky because they are good. Good teams are usually more disciplined, and by that I mean that they pay attention to little details, and don’t make the same mistakes over and over, and never quit on a play until it is completely over. Because they seem to always do the right thing, and don’t beat themselves the teams they face often feel more pressure. But since they are not as disciplined and may not be as mentally tough they sometimes make even more mistakes than they would against a lesser or equal team. These “extra” mistakes can be viewed as lucky breaks. Or you could just say that the winning team MADE its own luck.
Take the two biggest plays in the Patriots win against Baltimore. First, the non-touchdown catch with 27 seconds in the game. Lee Evans had the ball. For a split second. But the cornerback (Sterling Moore) had been taught over and over since coming to the Patriots to never give up on this type of play. The receiver MUST have both feet down and show control of the ball for a touchdown to be called. So Moore did what he had been drilled to do, over and over and over for the past few months. He slapped at the ball, and knocked it out of the receiver’s hands at the very same moment his second foot was coming down. Clearly, he did not have both feet down with control of the ball, and so it was deemed an incomplete pass. By perhaps one-tenth of a second, the Patriots had life. Lucky? Maybe. But luck by design.
The second biggest play was the missed field goal. A 32 yard field goal is nearly automatic in the NFL. Nearly, but not always. The Patriots didn’t quit playing. They gave it their best effort to block the kick. They didn’t, but the kicker HAD to be worried about it, even if just by a little bit. And replays showed that the kicker was not ready to go onto the field, and had to run on and kick it with time running out on the play clock. So he was rushed, on top of being nervous. The Ravens had a timeout left, but NEVER CONSIDERED USING IT. Had they done so the kicker would have had time to compose himself, and to make sure he was 100% ready. Was his missing the kick luck, or was that luck the residue of poor time management by the coach and nervousness on the part of the kicker?
And speaking of luck, the Ravens had their share of it too on Sunday. Tom Brady had a poor-to-mediocre game, by his own admission. In the first quarter he missed a wide open Rob Gronkowski, who would have walked in untouched to the endzone. It was only a 10-12 yard pass. If Brady has that throw to make 1000 times under those conditions how many times do you think he fails to complete it? Maybe once or twice? He also threw two bone-headed interceptions. Not just poor throws, but inconceivably awful throws. How many times do you think they might happen if he had them to do over again? Again, maybe once or twice in a thousand times. Had Brady completed the pass to Gronkowski and only thrown one of the two interceptions, the Patriots would have scored 4 more points (the difference between the field goal they eventually kicked and the touchdown they should have had) and possibly given up 3 fewer points (the Ravens scored a field goal after the first interception). So that is a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 7 more points they would have had. Instead of only being up 3 points at the end of the game they would have been up by 7, or even 10. And if they were I suspect Brady never even throws the second interception, because he would have played it more conservatively.
The simple fact is that each team had a little luck during the day. The difference is that the Patriots just did a little more with theirs than the Ravens did. And THAT isn’t luck.
Take the two biggest plays in the Patriots win against Baltimore. First, the non-touchdown catch with 27 seconds in the game. Lee Evans had the ball. For a split second. But the cornerback (Sterling Moore) had been taught over and over since coming to the Patriots to never give up on this type of play. The receiver MUST have both feet down and show control of the ball for a touchdown to be called. So Moore did what he had been drilled to do, over and over and over for the past few months. He slapped at the ball, and knocked it out of the receiver’s hands at the very same moment his second foot was coming down. Clearly, he did not have both feet down with control of the ball, and so it was deemed an incomplete pass. By perhaps one-tenth of a second, the Patriots had life. Lucky? Maybe. But luck by design.
The second biggest play was the missed field goal. A 32 yard field goal is nearly automatic in the NFL. Nearly, but not always. The Patriots didn’t quit playing. They gave it their best effort to block the kick. They didn’t, but the kicker HAD to be worried about it, even if just by a little bit. And replays showed that the kicker was not ready to go onto the field, and had to run on and kick it with time running out on the play clock. So he was rushed, on top of being nervous. The Ravens had a timeout left, but NEVER CONSIDERED USING IT. Had they done so the kicker would have had time to compose himself, and to make sure he was 100% ready. Was his missing the kick luck, or was that luck the residue of poor time management by the coach and nervousness on the part of the kicker?
And speaking of luck, the Ravens had their share of it too on Sunday. Tom Brady had a poor-to-mediocre game, by his own admission. In the first quarter he missed a wide open Rob Gronkowski, who would have walked in untouched to the endzone. It was only a 10-12 yard pass. If Brady has that throw to make 1000 times under those conditions how many times do you think he fails to complete it? Maybe once or twice? He also threw two bone-headed interceptions. Not just poor throws, but inconceivably awful throws. How many times do you think they might happen if he had them to do over again? Again, maybe once or twice in a thousand times. Had Brady completed the pass to Gronkowski and only thrown one of the two interceptions, the Patriots would have scored 4 more points (the difference between the field goal they eventually kicked and the touchdown they should have had) and possibly given up 3 fewer points (the Ravens scored a field goal after the first interception). So that is a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 7 more points they would have had. Instead of only being up 3 points at the end of the game they would have been up by 7, or even 10. And if they were I suspect Brady never even throws the second interception, because he would have played it more conservatively.
The simple fact is that each team had a little luck during the day. The difference is that the Patriots just did a little more with theirs than the Ravens did. And THAT isn’t luck.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Just Good Enough to Lose?
To me there are four major stages that a professional team goes through.
1. Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here. You have no expectations at all for this team, except that they will stink. They are bad. You know they are bad. They are not going to be good for a while, and have accepted it. Hopefully not a long while (more than 3-4 years), but that can and does happen – just look at Oakland, or Buffalo, or Cleveland (or don’t, which might be better advice given how awful they are). This type of team is usually very young or extremely poorly coached. And/Or the owner is an idiot who keeps interfering with the team and never gives it a chance to get better (see Snyder, Daniel, Washington Redskins). But the beauty of this type of team (or an ugliness that can be kind of endearing – a loveable loserness that the Chicago Cubs teams carried off so well for so long, but which they’ve now lost due to high expectations) is that because you have no expectations you can enjoy just watching football. Or you can take it or leave it as you chose and find something else to devote your time to on Sundays. The pressure is off! If they win you feel good all week. If they lose, well they’re supposed to lose! If you have to watch the games you can watch with an eye towards the future. Who is not going to be there the next year? What position do they need the most help with? Are they going to have a top pick in the draft (highly likely)? Who might be available? In other words, you can play general manager. That can be interesting to do, if it doesn’t last too long (again, see Oakland, Washington, or the Cleveland Browns). Of course if it does last for years and years (and believe me, I’ve been there, with the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and Patriots over the past 30 years of fandom, each of whom has had an extended period as a totally hopeless team as well as extended periods where they were stuck in the doldrums) it can seem like it will never end. But eventually it will. Just hope you have enough patience to be there and still care when they get better. I finally gave up on the Bruins after nearly two decades of mediocre- to- bad teams (thanks Jeremy Jacobs! You’re penny pinching ways killed this team – it’s dead to me now) even though they are now pretty good again.
2. Amidst the Darkness, Some Light. This is usually a young team that had been bad for a while that is looking like they’re starting to put the pieces together. They may not be good enough to make the playoffs (but sometimes can squeak in) but they are often fun to watch, and you can see that if they put a few more pieces into place they might be a very good team (barring a catastrophic injury). Something big has happened. A new coach. A great draft. Both. Don’t be confused into thinking the Dolphins fit this category, despite their sudden emergence last year in winning 11 games. They had a fluky year, fueled by a gimmick play that somehow worked all year long, and because the rest of the teams in their division had major problems (Buffalo was Buffalo, The Jets had Mangini and Favre killing them, and the Patriots lost Brady eight plays into the season). The Dolphins have not yet proven they belong in this category, judging by their 1-3 record. They could easily end up 5-11. San Francisco, however, does belong here. They have a good coach in Mike Singletary. They’ve done some good drafting. They just need a better quarterback and a playmaker on defense and they could be good. There’s definitely some hope there. The same goes for Atlanta (karma for getting rid of Michael Vick?). They may be contenders in a year or so if they keep healthy and don’t lose too many guys to free agency. Matt Ryan (love the name, hate his alma mater) was the best pick in the draft two years ago.
3. Stuck in the Doldrums. These are teams that were either contenders and are suffering a drop off due to age, injury or free agency loses, or they are teams that were up-and-comers that just never made the leap to full-fledged contenders. They may just get into the playoffs, or just miss them, but they are destined to be just good enough to lose (early in the playoffs if they get there, or to most of the good teams if they just miss the playoffs). Indianapolis was in this category for a couple of years, but thanks to Peyton Manning they are contenders again. Manning was hurt, and took a year to get better. Now he is playing like the former MVP and Super Bowl winner that he is. I may not like him, but I respect him. Three teams that are in this category are Chicago, San Diego and my own New England Patriots. Chicago fans always said the only thing they needed was a better quarterback. They cheered when they traded Kyle Orton for Jay Cutler. Only I don’t believe Cutler is the kind of guy who wins championships. He makes too many mistakes, and is a petulant whining jerk to boot. He’s a tease, just like Jake Plummer was. San Diego is getting old. Phillip Rivers looks like he’ll be a good quarterback, but their best players on defense (Shawn Merriman, getting old quickly now that he’s off the juice) and running back (LaDanian Tomlinson) are no longer elite players and they have no replacements in the pipeline for them. They’ll hang on for a bit, maybe even winning their division, but they have no chance at all to contend for a title. Sadly, the Patriots fit this category too. Brady is coming back off a serious injury that cost him the entire year. History says it will take a full year before he recovers (see Manning, Peyton or Palmer, Carson) if he ever does. They are rebuilding their entire defense, having lost several key players over the past couple of seasons. They have not drafted particularly well , especially on offense (Lawrence “Roman” Maroney is a total bust at running back, as was Chad Jackson at wide receiver). They have lost some good coaching talent (Josh McDaniels). They are getting older in some spots (Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Matt Light), while being very young in others (nearly the entire defensive secondary and linebackers). And the teams in their division (the Jets and Dolphins anyway) are getting better too. Everything points to this year (at least) being a year where they just barely make the playoffs and then get bounced early. They are struggling offensively. Their defense is in transition. The one glimmer of hope for the future is that they have lots of draft picks and the youth of the defensive secondary. It may take a year before we know if the new guys on defense (Guyton, Chung, Butler, Brace, Pryor, Crable, McGowan) will be good. If so, then the defense could be in good shape for the future. But if not, they could continue to be just good enough to lose. They need to find a viable running back, and a wide receiver to replace (or compliment) Moss at some point. And draft a new left tackle to replace Matt Light. And Brady must again become the MVP and (multi) Super Bowl winning quarterback he was before his injury. If he never recovers fully the offense will continue to struggle, and they’ll be an also-ran; a team that goes 7-9 or 9-7 year in and year out until something dramatic changes. This is what happened with the Patriots in the late 90’s (the Pete Carroll years) and what happened to the Red Sox in the late 80’s through mid 90’s, the Celtics in the early to late 90’s (until they became totally hopeless in the late 90’s to mid 00’s) and what happened with the Boston Bruins from the mid 80’s until……..well, now. To me this is the worst of all possible stages for your favorite team to be in. You remember vividly the glory years (after all, it was just yesterday) or you bemoan that one thing your team never found to put it over the top to become a contender or champion. Every loss seems unbearable, especially when you lose to a team you feel certain you are as good as or better. And even some of your wins feel like losses because the team had to fight entirely too hard to beat a bad team. The signs are everywhere that it is not going to be your year, and that you’ll be lucky to even make the playoffs, when making the playoffs used to be a given. You fear that instead of getting better, your team is only going to get worse, to the point where it could become hopeless for a few years, which would make games even less fun until you are willing to accept that they are hopeless.
4. As Good as it Gets. When your team is a serious contender. Even if you don’t win it all you enjoy the process, and the prospect of maybe winning a title with a little luck. Maybe you need one more good player. Or one player needs to go from good to great. Or you get a new coach. Or the stars just align themselves and everyone plays as good as they can. Nothing is better than either winning or knowing you are so close that it is bound to happen eventually (see the Pittsburg Steelers, who were stuck in the doldrums for years until they lucked out with Ben Rothlesberger). You devour the sports page and watch ESPN constantly waiting for the highlights of your team’s latest victory. You debate with friends and family over whether this really is the year. You enjoy it when people profess to hate your team, because you know it’s just jealousy. Every game is fun to watch, and if they lose you can shrug it off as just one bad day and start looking forward to the next game. You feel like you are part of something. You use the word “WE” when talking about the team, as if you are a member and not just a fan. If you are lucky this feeling can last for years (The Boston Celtics in the 60’s, The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Reds in the 70’s, The Edmonton Oilers, San Francisco 49’rs, Boston Celtics and LA Lakers in the 80’s, the Dallas Cowboys in the 90’s and the New England Patriots in the early to mid 00’s are a few examples) . But there is a flip side to it, and it is this: It can’t last forever, and when it ends you realize that you never appreciated it as much as you should. You were addicted to that feeling of having a great team (or teams) and the comedown can be particularly nasty. Teams you used to dominate start beating you, and their fans feel justified in taunting you over it (revenge can be sweet).
I have to admit, I have been spoiled the past 8 years. Three Super Bowls won by the Patriots (and one lost SB that should have been a win). Two World Series wins by the Red Sox. One NBA Championship by the Celtics. Boston was the best sports city in the world. It seemed like it would never end. But of course it had to. The Red Sox are getting older, as are the Celtics. Their runs may be over. The Patriots have been so good for so long that it is inevitable that there would be a period when they had difficulties. Last year was a lost year for the Pats without Brady. They had a lot of guys who were at their peak, or just beyond their peak. A healthy Brady might have meant another Super Bowl. But not only do they lose last year, this year also could be a lost year as he gets better. They could have a quick turnaround, but they would need to develop some of their draft picks into solid players and continue to make good picks. If not they could be stuck in the doldrums for a few more years, until Brady gets too old and has to be replaced. When that happens they may find themselves a bad team until they can find another quarterback. And there’s no telling how bad they’ll be or for how long. But for now they seem to be just good enough to lose.
1. Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here. You have no expectations at all for this team, except that they will stink. They are bad. You know they are bad. They are not going to be good for a while, and have accepted it. Hopefully not a long while (more than 3-4 years), but that can and does happen – just look at Oakland, or Buffalo, or Cleveland (or don’t, which might be better advice given how awful they are). This type of team is usually very young or extremely poorly coached. And/Or the owner is an idiot who keeps interfering with the team and never gives it a chance to get better (see Snyder, Daniel, Washington Redskins). But the beauty of this type of team (or an ugliness that can be kind of endearing – a loveable loserness that the Chicago Cubs teams carried off so well for so long, but which they’ve now lost due to high expectations) is that because you have no expectations you can enjoy just watching football. Or you can take it or leave it as you chose and find something else to devote your time to on Sundays. The pressure is off! If they win you feel good all week. If they lose, well they’re supposed to lose! If you have to watch the games you can watch with an eye towards the future. Who is not going to be there the next year? What position do they need the most help with? Are they going to have a top pick in the draft (highly likely)? Who might be available? In other words, you can play general manager. That can be interesting to do, if it doesn’t last too long (again, see Oakland, Washington, or the Cleveland Browns). Of course if it does last for years and years (and believe me, I’ve been there, with the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and Patriots over the past 30 years of fandom, each of whom has had an extended period as a totally hopeless team as well as extended periods where they were stuck in the doldrums) it can seem like it will never end. But eventually it will. Just hope you have enough patience to be there and still care when they get better. I finally gave up on the Bruins after nearly two decades of mediocre- to- bad teams (thanks Jeremy Jacobs! You’re penny pinching ways killed this team – it’s dead to me now) even though they are now pretty good again.
2. Amidst the Darkness, Some Light. This is usually a young team that had been bad for a while that is looking like they’re starting to put the pieces together. They may not be good enough to make the playoffs (but sometimes can squeak in) but they are often fun to watch, and you can see that if they put a few more pieces into place they might be a very good team (barring a catastrophic injury). Something big has happened. A new coach. A great draft. Both. Don’t be confused into thinking the Dolphins fit this category, despite their sudden emergence last year in winning 11 games. They had a fluky year, fueled by a gimmick play that somehow worked all year long, and because the rest of the teams in their division had major problems (Buffalo was Buffalo, The Jets had Mangini and Favre killing them, and the Patriots lost Brady eight plays into the season). The Dolphins have not yet proven they belong in this category, judging by their 1-3 record. They could easily end up 5-11. San Francisco, however, does belong here. They have a good coach in Mike Singletary. They’ve done some good drafting. They just need a better quarterback and a playmaker on defense and they could be good. There’s definitely some hope there. The same goes for Atlanta (karma for getting rid of Michael Vick?). They may be contenders in a year or so if they keep healthy and don’t lose too many guys to free agency. Matt Ryan (love the name, hate his alma mater) was the best pick in the draft two years ago.
3. Stuck in the Doldrums. These are teams that were either contenders and are suffering a drop off due to age, injury or free agency loses, or they are teams that were up-and-comers that just never made the leap to full-fledged contenders. They may just get into the playoffs, or just miss them, but they are destined to be just good enough to lose (early in the playoffs if they get there, or to most of the good teams if they just miss the playoffs). Indianapolis was in this category for a couple of years, but thanks to Peyton Manning they are contenders again. Manning was hurt, and took a year to get better. Now he is playing like the former MVP and Super Bowl winner that he is. I may not like him, but I respect him. Three teams that are in this category are Chicago, San Diego and my own New England Patriots. Chicago fans always said the only thing they needed was a better quarterback. They cheered when they traded Kyle Orton for Jay Cutler. Only I don’t believe Cutler is the kind of guy who wins championships. He makes too many mistakes, and is a petulant whining jerk to boot. He’s a tease, just like Jake Plummer was. San Diego is getting old. Phillip Rivers looks like he’ll be a good quarterback, but their best players on defense (Shawn Merriman, getting old quickly now that he’s off the juice) and running back (LaDanian Tomlinson) are no longer elite players and they have no replacements in the pipeline for them. They’ll hang on for a bit, maybe even winning their division, but they have no chance at all to contend for a title. Sadly, the Patriots fit this category too. Brady is coming back off a serious injury that cost him the entire year. History says it will take a full year before he recovers (see Manning, Peyton or Palmer, Carson) if he ever does. They are rebuilding their entire defense, having lost several key players over the past couple of seasons. They have not drafted particularly well , especially on offense (Lawrence “Roman” Maroney is a total bust at running back, as was Chad Jackson at wide receiver). They have lost some good coaching talent (Josh McDaniels). They are getting older in some spots (Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Matt Light), while being very young in others (nearly the entire defensive secondary and linebackers). And the teams in their division (the Jets and Dolphins anyway) are getting better too. Everything points to this year (at least) being a year where they just barely make the playoffs and then get bounced early. They are struggling offensively. Their defense is in transition. The one glimmer of hope for the future is that they have lots of draft picks and the youth of the defensive secondary. It may take a year before we know if the new guys on defense (Guyton, Chung, Butler, Brace, Pryor, Crable, McGowan) will be good. If so, then the defense could be in good shape for the future. But if not, they could continue to be just good enough to lose. They need to find a viable running back, and a wide receiver to replace (or compliment) Moss at some point. And draft a new left tackle to replace Matt Light. And Brady must again become the MVP and (multi) Super Bowl winning quarterback he was before his injury. If he never recovers fully the offense will continue to struggle, and they’ll be an also-ran; a team that goes 7-9 or 9-7 year in and year out until something dramatic changes. This is what happened with the Patriots in the late 90’s (the Pete Carroll years) and what happened to the Red Sox in the late 80’s through mid 90’s, the Celtics in the early to late 90’s (until they became totally hopeless in the late 90’s to mid 00’s) and what happened with the Boston Bruins from the mid 80’s until……..well, now. To me this is the worst of all possible stages for your favorite team to be in. You remember vividly the glory years (after all, it was just yesterday) or you bemoan that one thing your team never found to put it over the top to become a contender or champion. Every loss seems unbearable, especially when you lose to a team you feel certain you are as good as or better. And even some of your wins feel like losses because the team had to fight entirely too hard to beat a bad team. The signs are everywhere that it is not going to be your year, and that you’ll be lucky to even make the playoffs, when making the playoffs used to be a given. You fear that instead of getting better, your team is only going to get worse, to the point where it could become hopeless for a few years, which would make games even less fun until you are willing to accept that they are hopeless.
4. As Good as it Gets. When your team is a serious contender. Even if you don’t win it all you enjoy the process, and the prospect of maybe winning a title with a little luck. Maybe you need one more good player. Or one player needs to go from good to great. Or you get a new coach. Or the stars just align themselves and everyone plays as good as they can. Nothing is better than either winning or knowing you are so close that it is bound to happen eventually (see the Pittsburg Steelers, who were stuck in the doldrums for years until they lucked out with Ben Rothlesberger). You devour the sports page and watch ESPN constantly waiting for the highlights of your team’s latest victory. You debate with friends and family over whether this really is the year. You enjoy it when people profess to hate your team, because you know it’s just jealousy. Every game is fun to watch, and if they lose you can shrug it off as just one bad day and start looking forward to the next game. You feel like you are part of something. You use the word “WE” when talking about the team, as if you are a member and not just a fan. If you are lucky this feeling can last for years (The Boston Celtics in the 60’s, The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Reds in the 70’s, The Edmonton Oilers, San Francisco 49’rs, Boston Celtics and LA Lakers in the 80’s, the Dallas Cowboys in the 90’s and the New England Patriots in the early to mid 00’s are a few examples) . But there is a flip side to it, and it is this: It can’t last forever, and when it ends you realize that you never appreciated it as much as you should. You were addicted to that feeling of having a great team (or teams) and the comedown can be particularly nasty. Teams you used to dominate start beating you, and their fans feel justified in taunting you over it (revenge can be sweet).
I have to admit, I have been spoiled the past 8 years. Three Super Bowls won by the Patriots (and one lost SB that should have been a win). Two World Series wins by the Red Sox. One NBA Championship by the Celtics. Boston was the best sports city in the world. It seemed like it would never end. But of course it had to. The Red Sox are getting older, as are the Celtics. Their runs may be over. The Patriots have been so good for so long that it is inevitable that there would be a period when they had difficulties. Last year was a lost year for the Pats without Brady. They had a lot of guys who were at their peak, or just beyond their peak. A healthy Brady might have meant another Super Bowl. But not only do they lose last year, this year also could be a lost year as he gets better. They could have a quick turnaround, but they would need to develop some of their draft picks into solid players and continue to make good picks. If not they could be stuck in the doldrums for a few more years, until Brady gets too old and has to be replaced. When that happens they may find themselves a bad team until they can find another quarterback. And there’s no telling how bad they’ll be or for how long. But for now they seem to be just good enough to lose.
Monday, September 21, 2009
This Could Be A Long Year
Most of the comments I’m seeing are saying that the patriots have problems on defense. I’ll admit , they have a few there (like the inability to get anywhere near the opposing team’s quarterback), but for me the real problem is Tom Brady and the offensive coordinator.
Brady just does not look comfortable out there. He’s shying away from contact, throwing off his back foot, and rushing his throws, which is resulting in a lot of really bad looking passes. Before his injury he was completing nearly 70 percent of his passes, and a lot of the passes that were incomplete were fairly risky ones that were either very close, or in a place where only his guy could make a play on it or it would be on the ground or out of bounds. Now he looks like he’s opting for the safest passes, and is still missing by a lot on many of them because he’s rushing them. Which is funny in a way, because before the play starts he is taking so much time off the clock that they had back-to-back delay of game penalties at one point, and routinely just get the ball snapped with one second left on the clock. There just seems to be no rhythm at all in to the offense. Which brings us to the offensive coordinator.
It seems pretty obvious by now that the guy calling the plays (the quarterback coach, who’s only experience calling plays was for Duke. DUKE!; a team that has lost more games than any other team in college football the past 10 years) has no idea what he is doing. Where are all the screens and misdirection plays that used to be called to slow down the blitz? Where are the quick passes to the wide receivers right at the line of scrimmage to allow them to make yards after the catch? Where are the draw plays? The play action passes. The offense has become too predictable. Losing Jerod Mayo was bad. So was losing Richard Seymour. And Mike Vrabel. But the loss of Josh McDaniels to the Broncos may be the biggest loss the team has suffered. When he called the plays defenses were kept off balance. There was a sense that he would call any play in the playbook at any time. THEY were the confused ones. Now it looks like the patriots’ offense is confused.
I was shocked to see Brady sitting alone on the bench when the defense was on the field, often not even looking at the game. He had his head down a lot, and looked dejected and confused. I’m used to seeing him sitting with the receivers, or standing on the sidelines next to the coaches.
I have a feeling that it could be a very long year. I’ve read stories about other quarterbacks who had the same injury as Tom, and they all say it takes a full year of playing to get back to where they were before. I assumed that because Brady was a better quarterback than the others (Carson Palmer, Dante Culpepper, Randall Cunningham) and didn’t rely on his legs as much (as his head) that he would be back to his old self a lot sooner. It appears I was wrong. My hope now is that the Pats can keep in the playoff hunt for the first half of the year while Brady gets his act together and the offensive coordinator gets a clue, and then they could make a run in the second half of the year. I was predicting 13 wins or better this year. Now I’m hoping for 10, and that 10 will be enough to get into the playoffs. They should be 0-2 now. I think next week they lose to the Falcons. Then they play Baltimore, which suddenly can score points as well as play terrific defense. They could be 1-3 easily after that game. Then they go to Denver. Another potential loss. They should still beat Tennessee and Tampa Bay before the Bye Week, but by then they could be 3-4, when I expected at least 5-2 and quite possibly 6-1. The second half of the year (always assuming that the offense gets it in gear) should be easier. Except for the games against Indianapolis and New Orleans, the rest of the games look winnable. They could go 7-2. That would put them at 10-6 and could get them in the playoffs. Whether they do anything in the playoffs will depend almost entirely on Tom Brady. Right now they don’t even look like a playoff team. And Tom Brady doesn’t look like Tom Brady.
Brady just does not look comfortable out there. He’s shying away from contact, throwing off his back foot, and rushing his throws, which is resulting in a lot of really bad looking passes. Before his injury he was completing nearly 70 percent of his passes, and a lot of the passes that were incomplete were fairly risky ones that were either very close, or in a place where only his guy could make a play on it or it would be on the ground or out of bounds. Now he looks like he’s opting for the safest passes, and is still missing by a lot on many of them because he’s rushing them. Which is funny in a way, because before the play starts he is taking so much time off the clock that they had back-to-back delay of game penalties at one point, and routinely just get the ball snapped with one second left on the clock. There just seems to be no rhythm at all in to the offense. Which brings us to the offensive coordinator.
It seems pretty obvious by now that the guy calling the plays (the quarterback coach, who’s only experience calling plays was for Duke. DUKE!; a team that has lost more games than any other team in college football the past 10 years) has no idea what he is doing. Where are all the screens and misdirection plays that used to be called to slow down the blitz? Where are the quick passes to the wide receivers right at the line of scrimmage to allow them to make yards after the catch? Where are the draw plays? The play action passes. The offense has become too predictable. Losing Jerod Mayo was bad. So was losing Richard Seymour. And Mike Vrabel. But the loss of Josh McDaniels to the Broncos may be the biggest loss the team has suffered. When he called the plays defenses were kept off balance. There was a sense that he would call any play in the playbook at any time. THEY were the confused ones. Now it looks like the patriots’ offense is confused.
I was shocked to see Brady sitting alone on the bench when the defense was on the field, often not even looking at the game. He had his head down a lot, and looked dejected and confused. I’m used to seeing him sitting with the receivers, or standing on the sidelines next to the coaches.
I have a feeling that it could be a very long year. I’ve read stories about other quarterbacks who had the same injury as Tom, and they all say it takes a full year of playing to get back to where they were before. I assumed that because Brady was a better quarterback than the others (Carson Palmer, Dante Culpepper, Randall Cunningham) and didn’t rely on his legs as much (as his head) that he would be back to his old self a lot sooner. It appears I was wrong. My hope now is that the Pats can keep in the playoff hunt for the first half of the year while Brady gets his act together and the offensive coordinator gets a clue, and then they could make a run in the second half of the year. I was predicting 13 wins or better this year. Now I’m hoping for 10, and that 10 will be enough to get into the playoffs. They should be 0-2 now. I think next week they lose to the Falcons. Then they play Baltimore, which suddenly can score points as well as play terrific defense. They could be 1-3 easily after that game. Then they go to Denver. Another potential loss. They should still beat Tennessee and Tampa Bay before the Bye Week, but by then they could be 3-4, when I expected at least 5-2 and quite possibly 6-1. The second half of the year (always assuming that the offense gets it in gear) should be easier. Except for the games against Indianapolis and New Orleans, the rest of the games look winnable. They could go 7-2. That would put them at 10-6 and could get them in the playoffs. Whether they do anything in the playoffs will depend almost entirely on Tom Brady. Right now they don’t even look like a playoff team. And Tom Brady doesn’t look like Tom Brady.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
How Tom Brady Almost Got Me Killed
Here’s how. Monday Night Football. Patriots against the Bills. Things started poorly. There was not enough oil to make the buffalo wings and French fries, so I had to go back to the store for a second time (and we won’t be discussing the car fiasco from the first trip to the store at this time, or any other if I have my say). The fries ended up overdone too, although the wings came out just right, although just seconds before kickoff. From the beginning of the game it was obvious that things weren’t going well. Tom Brady looked like a guy who hadn’t played any real football (let’s not kid ourselves, the exhibition games were meaningless) for a year, and who was dealing with the physical and mental ramifications of a serious knee injury. He was indecisive. He was inaccurate. He looked uncomfortable. In other words, he looked like an average quarterback, instead of one of the ten best who’ve ever played. And the defense wasn’t helping any. They couldn’t get off the field, letting the Bills move the ball pretty easily on them. Had Jerod Mayo not been injured early in the game things may have been different. Things weren’t going too great while he was in there though, which does not bode well for the rest of the season. He never returned last night. Hopefully it is a minor injury, or things could be really bad. They’re going to have to score a lot of points anyway I think.
At halftime Jayne decided to go to bed. And in the second half things got even worse. Buffalo was making all the right plays, and the Pats couldn’t get any offense going. They had to settle for field goals, when they should have scored touchdowns. Tom continued to play, to be honest, mediocre football. He never threw the ball more than 10-12 yards. No bombs to Galloway or Randy Moss. No deep crossing patterns to Wes Welker. Just dinks and dunks (very much like how he played as a rookie in 2001, only back then they had one of the best defenses in the league and you KNEW they would get more chances). But they couldn’t get into the end zone. Tom just didn’t look like he had it. And when the Bills scored to make it 24-13 late in the 4th it seemed pretty hopeless. It was during that touchdown drive that point where I started yelling at the tv in frustration.
There were 5 and a half minutes left in the game. I still had a little hope, but I knew they had to score quickly, so that they could have a chance to get the ball back. They had 3 timeouts and the two minute warning to stop the clock. If they could score quickly the defense would have a chance to stop the Bills and get Tom the ball back with a minute or so. It was doable (although I had very little confidence that the defense would come through, and only slightly more than a little confidence that Tom would based on how he had been playing up until that point). So when Tom started the next possession by continuing to dink and dunk (3 yards here, 6 yards there, 2 yards more and a first down…..aaaarrrrggghhh!) I really started to lose it. “Moooooooove!!!! I screamed. We don’t have frelling time to do this!!!!” Time was slowly bleeding away. It was under 4 minutes…….then under 3 minutes, and yet Tom kept lollygagging around, as if he had all the time in the world. A pass to Moss for 8……….. another pass to Welker for 6……... Dink…………. Donk……….. Dunk.
“Yougottafuckingscorefasterthanthis!!!!!!!!!!” Finally, Tom throws a touchdown pass to Ben Watson to make it 24-19. But only 2:06 remains on the clock. All the bills would have to do is get one first down on their next possession and the clock would run out. Based on how things had gone up until then it seemed a foregone conclusion that the Bills would get that first down. But then fate took a hand. On the ensuing kickoff the ball was caught in the end zone…….and the runner ran out!!! All he had to do was stand there for a couple seconds and then kneel down for a touchback. The clock would have gone down to the two minute warning, taking away one of the Pats chances to stop the clock. And even had it not run down under two minutes their offense was almost sure to be able to get one first down and run out the clock. And even if they didn’t run out the clock, they could have run it down to about a minute even with the Pats taking all three time outs. A punt then would have left the Pats 70 yards or so to go to win the game. But he decided to come out of the end zone. And was hit hard at the 25. And then continued to struggle to stay on his feet instead of going to the ground! And then had the ball pulled out of his hands!! And recovered on the 30 yard line by the Pats!!! 4 plays later Tom threw another touchdown to Watson, making it 25-24 Patriots. Pandemonium. With 50 seconds left the Bills got the ball back, but couldn’t get close enough to try a field goal and the Pats had an improbable victory. After watching the press conferences I finally went to bed, completely spent emotionally. Jayne was awake, and I apologized for all the ruckus. “It’s a good thing you stopped when you did” she said “because I was just about to come down and kill you. You woke me up about 5 times”.
So, there you have it. How Tom Brady Nearly Got Me Killed. My wife would have been profiled on one of those shows on the We (women’s entertainment) network. Snapped, or something like that. And most women would have agreed she was within her rights to have killed me and buried me under the deck. But as I reminded her, she knew when she got into this marriage that I was a lunatic, especially when sports was involved.
Several players said that Tom predicted they’d win. That during the drive starting with 5:32 left in the game he told them in the huddle “ok, we’re going to go down and score before the 2 minute warning. Then we’re gonna get the ball back somehow, and win the game”. I wish he had let me in on this. It might have saved me some grief (and potentially my life, heh heh)
But still, if you’re reading this Tom, can you do me a favor and make the next few games a little less stressful? Thanks.
At halftime Jayne decided to go to bed. And in the second half things got even worse. Buffalo was making all the right plays, and the Pats couldn’t get any offense going. They had to settle for field goals, when they should have scored touchdowns. Tom continued to play, to be honest, mediocre football. He never threw the ball more than 10-12 yards. No bombs to Galloway or Randy Moss. No deep crossing patterns to Wes Welker. Just dinks and dunks (very much like how he played as a rookie in 2001, only back then they had one of the best defenses in the league and you KNEW they would get more chances). But they couldn’t get into the end zone. Tom just didn’t look like he had it. And when the Bills scored to make it 24-13 late in the 4th it seemed pretty hopeless. It was during that touchdown drive that point where I started yelling at the tv in frustration.
There were 5 and a half minutes left in the game. I still had a little hope, but I knew they had to score quickly, so that they could have a chance to get the ball back. They had 3 timeouts and the two minute warning to stop the clock. If they could score quickly the defense would have a chance to stop the Bills and get Tom the ball back with a minute or so. It was doable (although I had very little confidence that the defense would come through, and only slightly more than a little confidence that Tom would based on how he had been playing up until that point). So when Tom started the next possession by continuing to dink and dunk (3 yards here, 6 yards there, 2 yards more and a first down…..aaaarrrrggghhh!) I really started to lose it. “Moooooooove!!!! I screamed. We don’t have frelling time to do this!!!!” Time was slowly bleeding away. It was under 4 minutes…….then under 3 minutes, and yet Tom kept lollygagging around, as if he had all the time in the world. A pass to Moss for 8……….. another pass to Welker for 6……... Dink…………. Donk……….. Dunk.
“Yougottafuckingscorefasterthanthis!!!!!!!!!!” Finally, Tom throws a touchdown pass to Ben Watson to make it 24-19. But only 2:06 remains on the clock. All the bills would have to do is get one first down on their next possession and the clock would run out. Based on how things had gone up until then it seemed a foregone conclusion that the Bills would get that first down. But then fate took a hand. On the ensuing kickoff the ball was caught in the end zone…….and the runner ran out!!! All he had to do was stand there for a couple seconds and then kneel down for a touchback. The clock would have gone down to the two minute warning, taking away one of the Pats chances to stop the clock. And even had it not run down under two minutes their offense was almost sure to be able to get one first down and run out the clock. And even if they didn’t run out the clock, they could have run it down to about a minute even with the Pats taking all three time outs. A punt then would have left the Pats 70 yards or so to go to win the game. But he decided to come out of the end zone. And was hit hard at the 25. And then continued to struggle to stay on his feet instead of going to the ground! And then had the ball pulled out of his hands!! And recovered on the 30 yard line by the Pats!!! 4 plays later Tom threw another touchdown to Watson, making it 25-24 Patriots. Pandemonium. With 50 seconds left the Bills got the ball back, but couldn’t get close enough to try a field goal and the Pats had an improbable victory. After watching the press conferences I finally went to bed, completely spent emotionally. Jayne was awake, and I apologized for all the ruckus. “It’s a good thing you stopped when you did” she said “because I was just about to come down and kill you. You woke me up about 5 times”.
So, there you have it. How Tom Brady Nearly Got Me Killed. My wife would have been profiled on one of those shows on the We (women’s entertainment) network. Snapped, or something like that. And most women would have agreed she was within her rights to have killed me and buried me under the deck. But as I reminded her, she knew when she got into this marriage that I was a lunatic, especially when sports was involved.
Several players said that Tom predicted they’d win. That during the drive starting with 5:32 left in the game he told them in the huddle “ok, we’re going to go down and score before the 2 minute warning. Then we’re gonna get the ball back somehow, and win the game”. I wish he had let me in on this. It might have saved me some grief (and potentially my life, heh heh)
But still, if you’re reading this Tom, can you do me a favor and make the next few games a little less stressful? Thanks.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Is it Beer O'Clock Yet?
If it is, you're probably paying too much for it!
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/why-every-cold-beer-costs-you-more.aspx
I am glad to see that Guinness was not mentioned in that article. Guinness good. Anheuser-Busch bad (except for some of their advertisements. I still fondly remember my Bud Man tee-shirt). This is not to say that only dark beers (or ales) are the only good beers. In the right setting I enjoy lighter (not LIGHT, mind you, just lighter) beers. With Asian food I can enjoy a Saporo, or a Zing Tao. With Mexican food a Modelo Especial is a fine accompaniment. I’ve had Red Stripe from Jamaica and enjoyed it, as well as German style lagers on occasion. There are fine beers being made of all kinds all over the world. But yet most of what Americans drink is, in my opinion, undrinkable. Of course I freely admit to being a terrible beer snob (there will never be another ’87 Anchor Steam). I love good beer. Mostly dark beer. Particularly Ales. Brown Ales. Porters. Stouts. I will drink a pale ale now and then, and amber ale. But American Style Lagers are right out. Bud, Bush, Miller, Coors and the like are what a guy pees out after drinking real beer. Real beer should have flavor and complexity. It should not under any circumstances have the word Light in it, unless you’re talking about beer made by Lighthouse Brewery. Small batches of beer are better batches of beer. These truths we hold to be self evident. Sam Adams used to be a smallish brewery, but now they are a macro-brewer (a brewer who makes giant batches of beer). You can’t control the taste of beer as well when you make large batches (batches? We don’t need no stinking batches!! Heh heh.). Of course there are those who say that Guinness is a macro-brewer too. This is true, but it is a special exception. Guinness has been making the same beer, with the same recipe, for 250 years! I think they’ve got the recipe down by now. And they still make a LOT less of it than Anheuser-Bush makes of Bud. And, Guinness is Good for You! It says so right on their advertisements! I freely admit that I started my beer drinking with cheap, pale, flavorless stuff like Bud. But thanks to peer pressure from my friends I learned to first love slightly darker and richer beers like Bass Ale, and soon graduated to Samuel Smith’s Pale Ale, and mild brown ales like Newcastle (still an all-time favorite). Eventually I had the courage (not John Courage, although that too is a good beer!) to try Guinness. It was my destiny it seems, as I am nearly 100% Irish and have dreamt of going to Ireland almost all my life (a dream that, as you recall from my haiku post was finally fulfilled). It took a little getting used to, but my conversion to a Guinness fanatic was soon complete, and culminated in my first pint in Ireland (at Dirty Nelly’s) and the trip to St. James Gate Brewery (aka Mecca). If only more people would learn to truly enjoy a good pint, instead of swilling down the pale and lifeless brew that passes for beer in this country. The world would be a better place. Guinness teaches you patience, as you wait for it to settle. It’s rich and dark colour is soothing. The head gives you a beer mustache, which can be good for a laugh. It is lower in Alcohol, which is good for your liver. And, of course, it gives you strength, being what I like to call liquid bread. They may call whiskey “the water of life” in Ireland, but Guinness Refreshes Your Spirit!
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/why-every-cold-beer-costs-you-more.aspx
I am glad to see that Guinness was not mentioned in that article. Guinness good. Anheuser-Busch bad (except for some of their advertisements. I still fondly remember my Bud Man tee-shirt). This is not to say that only dark beers (or ales) are the only good beers. In the right setting I enjoy lighter (not LIGHT, mind you, just lighter) beers. With Asian food I can enjoy a Saporo, or a Zing Tao. With Mexican food a Modelo Especial is a fine accompaniment. I’ve had Red Stripe from Jamaica and enjoyed it, as well as German style lagers on occasion. There are fine beers being made of all kinds all over the world. But yet most of what Americans drink is, in my opinion, undrinkable. Of course I freely admit to being a terrible beer snob (there will never be another ’87 Anchor Steam). I love good beer. Mostly dark beer. Particularly Ales. Brown Ales. Porters. Stouts. I will drink a pale ale now and then, and amber ale. But American Style Lagers are right out. Bud, Bush, Miller, Coors and the like are what a guy pees out after drinking real beer. Real beer should have flavor and complexity. It should not under any circumstances have the word Light in it, unless you’re talking about beer made by Lighthouse Brewery. Small batches of beer are better batches of beer. These truths we hold to be self evident. Sam Adams used to be a smallish brewery, but now they are a macro-brewer (a brewer who makes giant batches of beer). You can’t control the taste of beer as well when you make large batches (batches? We don’t need no stinking batches!! Heh heh.). Of course there are those who say that Guinness is a macro-brewer too. This is true, but it is a special exception. Guinness has been making the same beer, with the same recipe, for 250 years! I think they’ve got the recipe down by now. And they still make a LOT less of it than Anheuser-Bush makes of Bud. And, Guinness is Good for You! It says so right on their advertisements! I freely admit that I started my beer drinking with cheap, pale, flavorless stuff like Bud. But thanks to peer pressure from my friends I learned to first love slightly darker and richer beers like Bass Ale, and soon graduated to Samuel Smith’s Pale Ale, and mild brown ales like Newcastle (still an all-time favorite). Eventually I had the courage (not John Courage, although that too is a good beer!) to try Guinness. It was my destiny it seems, as I am nearly 100% Irish and have dreamt of going to Ireland almost all my life (a dream that, as you recall from my haiku post was finally fulfilled). It took a little getting used to, but my conversion to a Guinness fanatic was soon complete, and culminated in my first pint in Ireland (at Dirty Nelly’s) and the trip to St. James Gate Brewery (aka Mecca). If only more people would learn to truly enjoy a good pint, instead of swilling down the pale and lifeless brew that passes for beer in this country. The world would be a better place. Guinness teaches you patience, as you wait for it to settle. It’s rich and dark colour is soothing. The head gives you a beer mustache, which can be good for a laugh. It is lower in Alcohol, which is good for your liver. And, of course, it gives you strength, being what I like to call liquid bread. They may call whiskey “the water of life” in Ireland, but Guinness Refreshes Your Spirit!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Stop the Insanity!
So, it appears my wife is harassing celebrities now. Oh, the shame! Oh, the Humanity! Oh sure, it’s just a single post this time, asking for comment to be placed on our blog. But what next? Will she be inviting Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen for dinner, or telling Molly Ringwald that I had this huge crush on her when I was a teenager and suggest to her that it might be fun to show up to our Oktoberfest party? Oh sure, Charlie the beagle would love to have the company. Tom could throw his toys in the backyard for him to fetch, and as we all know Charlie LOVES the ladies. And Jayne would be able to talk fashion with Giselle (I bet she secretly adores What Not To Wear just like Jayne does). And for all we know Molly brews her own beer , and is a beer snob like me. But really, to what end this making of famous friends? I’d then have to track down Neal Patrick Harris so he could come over and sing her some of the songs from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog to even things out. Or invite Liam Neeson to tea and cakes. Mmmm, cakes. Sorry, about that, lost my mind for a minute. From there it would just get worse. I’d come home one day to find Alton Brown shackled in the kitchen until he made us the perfect batch of brownies. And next thing you know Stephen King would be coming by to help us with our Christmas Letters. Zachary Levi would be calling us every week asking if we wanted to go bowling, and Alyssa Milano would be calling to talk about baseball. Does Charlie fire Cathy the dog walker and replace her with Cate Blanchett? Does Green Day just move into our basement? Where will it all end! Where in heaven’s name will it end?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Dear Jayne
So, this is MAL, and this is MAL’s Haiku Corner. This will be a regular feature of IKBINT. I love to Haiku. It can be about anything, and often will be about the smallest things. But today’s Haikus are for Jayne, who brings me serenity every time I look at her.
First time I met you
I knew that you were special
But not what would come
Soon, we were good friends
Spent hours on the telephone
Long distance dating
First Date – Mount Vernon
Second Date – “Incredibles!”
Third Date…… Ireland?!?!?!
By that time I knew
That you were the one for me
The love of my life
Moving here was hard
Not just the drive down
But leaving all that I knew
It’s all been worth it
Our life a great adventure
‘Til death do us part
First time I met you
I knew that you were special
But not what would come
Soon, we were good friends
Spent hours on the telephone
Long distance dating
First Date – Mount Vernon
Second Date – “Incredibles!”
Third Date…… Ireland?!?!?!
By that time I knew
That you were the one for me
The love of my life
Moving here was hard
Not just the drive down
But leaving all that I knew
It’s all been worth it
Our life a great adventure
‘Til death do us part
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