I went home sick yesterday. Although I was sick from the Eagles loss, this was more of a stomach ailment. Late in the morning I had one of the episodes in the bathroom where you pray that noone else comes in. Thankfully, noone did. Afterwards I felt weak, had the chills and just overall felt terrible. So I went home and slept for almost 4 hours. After my nap my stomach still felt unsettled but I was able to function. Today I feel pretty much back to normal.
I took all sorts of abuse for the Eagles loss yesterday in my abbreviated stint at work. I have some vocal Patriot supporters here that loved turning the knife. I took it like I should and continued on my miserable way.
The commute to work today took 90 minutes. It is a bit unsettling knowing that my ability to continue to tolerate the ever worsening traffic situation out here is coming to an end. Sooner or later I’ll just snap and say “To hell with it, we are selling and moving” It really affects your quality of life.
Wow it was tough. It was very ugly at times, yet they still had a shot in the end which they misfired horribly on. I don’t think there was any doubt that the Patriots were a better team. Even when they were behind they looked to be in control. Brady was calm, Donovan looked nervous. Brady threw no picks, Donovan threw 3 ( more except for some lucky penalties against the Pats) So who is there to blame? Well before I get to that lets talk about the good stuff.
TO TO TO, I think it is amazing that he not only started but made plays, big plays all game long. He was the Eagles best receiver even on one and a half legs. If God healed him, he did a hell of a job doing it. It really made me respect TO for his work ethic. I always knew he was a good player but an obnoxious showboat. However this year showed me also he cares about winning, cares about the team and he gave everything he had in the tank. It was nothing short of amazing.
The Eagles D did a good job for the majority of the game. They didn’t allow Dillon to run wild but they didn’t get the sort of pressure on Brady that was necessary to throw him off his game.
The Eagles receivers (minus Freddie Mitchell) made some fantastic grabs. McNabb’s passes were all over the place for most of the game and the diving, stretching catches by the receivers kept the Birds in the game. Lord knows they couldn’t run the ball.
Dirk Johnson hammered a few punts.
Ok now the bad stuff. Westbrook made a few plays but not nearly enough to have the impact that was necessary on the game. The drop he had late in the game was very costly.
The clock management in the 4th quarter was ATROCIUS. The worst I’ve ever seen in a big game. The Eagles are down 10 with 5 minutes to go in the game and they aren’t running hurry up???? I was screaming at the tv “What are you doing???!!!! Hurry the hell up!!!!” It was inexcusable. They were strolling up to the line of scrimmage like it was the 1st quarter. By the time they got the ball back at the end of the game they had less than a minute to go with no timeouts. Instead of throwing sideline routes, the first play is a dump in the middle of the field that gained 1 yard and ran at least 25 of those seconds off the clock. It was a joke.
However I hate to place the ultimate blame in the most obvious spot, but Donovan let us down. It was the most deceptive 3 touchdown, 350 yard passing performance I ever saw. He was extremely erratic. He was throwing very ugly balls that fluttered high, low and behind receivers. The receivers saved him multiple times by making incredible catches on poorly thrown balls. I heard that in the Super Bowl they rotate in brand new balls almost every play, so they are slick. Maybe that had something to do with it. He looked nervous and jumpy. His 3 picks were back breakers and I can not believe he did not scramble for yardage once in the game. His stubborness to not be a “running” QB seems to make him not want to do it at all. We needed him to run the ball to keep the Patriots off balance. I was really disappointed in his play.
Oh well there is always next year. So now to other details. We had a few people over for the bowl. I did one of those grid betting boards where you bet on stuff ranging from the coin toss to the final score. That was a big hit as it kept people interested in the game. We had piles of food and enough beer to fill a bar. I drank at least 8 or 9 so I was feeling jolly at first, a bit drowsy later. To battle the drowsiness I pounded a Red Bull, followed by 2 cups of coffee in the 2nd half. I had the pool heater cranked up, thinking it may see some use but it didn’t. Everyone had a good time. By the time everyone left, we cleaned up and got to bed it was close to midnight. As I lay there in bed, exhausted I can’t fall to sleep. My mind was racing, replaying keys spots in the game, thinking of how miserable it would be crawling into work the next day. I assume the Red Bull and coffee had something to do with it. Even once I fell asleep I was awake off and on throughout the entire night. I woke up today feeling like death. It isn’t a bright and cheery day.
More stuff. The commercials were good. Some were funny as hell. Some of my favorites were the Mustang convertible, frozen guy one, the monkey ass kissing one and I think my most favorite was the one where the guy was making the nice dinner for the girlfriend and winds up holding a tomato sauce covered cat and a knife as the girlfriend walks in. I laughed hard at that one. The halftime show was a complete 180 from last year. Instead of the being over the top edgy, this was under the bottom mundane for me. I like McCartney and thought he did a fine job but it was a bit boring for me by Super Bowl standards. Normally Super Bowls will put various entertainers together that you wouldn’t normally see and that is interesting for me. Nothing but Paul left me a little disappointed.
The portion of the weekend prior to Sunday was a grunt fest for me. On Saturday while Ali was working I dug out holes for the fence posts for Nicki’s area, about 15 of them. It was a dirty, strenuous job but it could have been worse. I took some pics of the progress that I’ll post later. Now the fence has to be installed, sod has to be laid, a small deck has to be built and some trees need to be planted. Yay.
There was more in my mind to blog but I’m too tired to think of them. Sigh…..
Can the Eagles do it? I think they can. I remember 24 years ago when the Eagles were in the Bowl. I believe they were favorites but they came out and totally laid an egg and were never really in the game. This year they are underdogs and I like that role. Few expect them to win so they have little to lose. I hope this will result in them letting it all hang out. The TO news has been nothing but positive, so if he can actual make a contribution, I like the Birds chances even more.
We are having a few people over to watch the game, one of which is a hardcore Patriots fan so it will be a good rivalry. I am wearing my Eagles jersey today, check it out here. Come Monday, I will either be elated beyond description or depressed beyond consolation. I don’t want to wait another 24 years for another shot.
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EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I left the gym, out in the parking lot I saw a real health “nut”. He was nuts if he thought he was healthy. The gym lot is shared by many things, including a McDonalds. So as I am walking to my car I do a double take when I see an obese man sitting in his car, with a half eaten ice cream cone in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. WTF? Take a drag, lick of ice cream, another drag…… unreal. America, the home of the lard ass.