I have watched many Irish games and I can't remember a more incredible comeback. Last year against Michigan State, they made up a large 2nd half deficit but they ended up losing in overtime. After the game, a few Spartan players decided to plant their flag on the field. Yeah, that's classy but I wouldn't expect anything less from them. I found it funny that there were three Spartans guarding the 50-yard-line after the game. How silly is that? Did they honestly think the Irish would stoop to their level and even more, did they think Charlie Weis would allow it?
The game itself was a roller-coaster of emotion for me. Earlier in the week, I wasn't expecting to watch it since USC was the other regional game. Thankfully, ESPN2 carried the game on the West coast. I still have many worries about the team especially on the defensive side but I'm hoping that this was a watershed game and things start to move smoothly. Many people are now speculating on the relative ease of the rest of the schedule until SC but I just want to focus one game at a time. I think that's enough cliches for now.
I watched the Bears game this week and while it wasn't the high-flying scoring machine of the past couple of weeks, they still won and now they've gone undefeated through the first of divisional games.
They go against Seattle on Sunday night in front of a national audience. It should be a great one.
I'm still winless in my main league. It is frustrating because I had the third biggest score for the week but unfortunately I was going up against arch-rival who had the second biggest score. Such is the fantasy life sometimes.
Now, I have some decisions to make since Shaun Alexander is out. I might need to trade for some running back help. I have an offer on the table which looks interesting and it will be tough to not pull the trigger.
Obviously the less said about this game, the better. In any of the big losses during the Ty reign, I never felt as disappointed as I did Saturday. It was just a beat down in every sense of the phrase. When your punter is the best player on the field at the end of the day, you know it hasn't been a good one.
Can the Irish still get to the BCS? Absolutely. They need to play really well against a very good Michigan State team who always play the Irish tough. After that, the schedule eases up until the end of the season showdown out here in SoCal with the very impressive Trojans. But that's a long time from now and many games need to be won before then.
The Bears were the total opposite of the Irish. Their defense continues to shut people down and their offense is moving the play amazingly well. Rex Grossman is finally showing why he was their number 1 pick a few years ago. If he can stay healthy all year, they will be legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
Up next is the Vikings who are also 2-0. If the Bears can win, they'll be 3-0 in the division already.
Going into last night's game, I needed 10 points to win. I had two players still to play while my opponent's team was done for the week. I was fairly confident. I was definitely wrong since my players were Willie Parker and Hines Ward. Since the Steelers were dominated by the Jags defense, the usual point totals for either player were way, way down. Oh well, now I'm 0-2. I guess starting off this way will make my title that much sweeter.
On the plus side, Eli Manning was my big performer. Hopefully those numbers can keep going because my usual bread-and-butter player, Shaun Alexander, hasn't put the numbers up yet.
My reading rate has increased since early August. We went to Coronado for a few days and it was an enjoyable time at the beach or by the pool. I brought down the 2005 edition of the Best American Short Stories, edited by Michael Chabon. It was very enjoyable and the decision of reading short stories on vacation was one of my better ones since you never knew when it would be time to throw the kids in the pool or head out to do something else. I sometimes will get a bit cranky if I'm in the middle of a novel and have to tear myself away from the page but short stories are different so that was a plus.
At any rate, that started my return to reading. Since then, here are the books I've read though the order isn't correct:
I like the mix of books here. It's what I try to do as much as possible.
As to what I'm currently reading, at work, it's 2006 Best New American Voices short story collection. Short stories at work do well much like they did on vacation since I have a set amount of time and I can always at least finish one story before the return to the salt mines. At home, it's Andrea Seigel's To Feel Stuff which has been getting great reviews and I'm enjoying it so far.
The queue is Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, The Narrows by Michael Connelly and Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. The last two I picked up at a school carnival for $1.50.
Yes, I know the colleges have played twice but it's the first week both college and pro have played together so that's how I'll keep it.
The Irish looked much better this past Saturday than when they were down in Atlanta playing Georgia Tech. I do think that Penn State wasn't quite as good as most pundits said so perhaps the blowout isn't as impressive but a win is still a win.
A succession of plays which caught my eye and I think show the greatness of Charlie Weis' play-calling came at the end of the first half. ND got the ball with under two minutes to go and if you've watched many games in the past year, you know that they will normally score in these types of drives. But the first 3 plays were little outs to John Carlson to left side of the field, Darius Walker to the right side and back to Walker to the left side. Each time, Penn State's star linebacker Paul Poslusznky was in coverage and you could just see how tired he was by the third play. He had to be taken out.
This week, it's Michigan. Ugh, I hate them almost as much as USC. I'll have a preview tomorrow.
Whenever you beat a rival, it's a good thing. When you beat a rival on the road, it's a better thing and when you shut out that rival on the road, it's a great thing. I think that pretty much sums it up.
I lost this week but that's ok, the season is long. My quarterbacks are Kurt Warner and Eli Manning. I started Warner mainly because he was going against SF as opposed to Eli against the Colts. It worked out pretty well for me with that stats Warner put up.
Running back was a different story. After a solid game from Willie Park to open the season, Shaun Alexander, my main fantasy leader, had a very, very quiet game against the Lions. Hopefully he can bounce back this week.
I think this pretty much sums up my feelings today...
Go Irish!
I can't wait.
I can't wait for the Irish captains to walk to midfield before the game.
I can't wait for Travis Thomas to make his first tackle as a linebacker.
I can't wait for Rhema McKnight's first receiving touchdown.
I can't wait for the first Weis outburst on the sideline.
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