"Shockey!"

Well, color me suprised by the Bucs domination last night. I expected the Raider line to give Gannon time to pick apart the zone, but I didn't expect that to come in the 3rd quarter when they were already down by 30 points. The other shocker was the running of Michael Pittman. Great MVP balloting though- give it to the guy the fans voted online for. I have big problems with that. First, why give him all of the votes for finishing 1st in the online balloting and 2) why trust people who are online during the Super Bowl!!!! If you are on the internet during the biggest event of the year (except the Final Four), you're a loser. Looks like we can get ready to hear Sapp and Keyshawn talking for the next 7 months.

Highlights of the night included:
-Terry Tate - Office Linebacker
-Ozzy saying "you're bloody magicians"
-Madden's new word "contrarian"

Some disappointing news out of Montreal today. Looks like my man Saku Koivuwon't be playing in this weekend's NHL All-Star game. Tough break for the Habs captain who is following Mario and Lance as guys returning to the top of their games after overcoming cancer. Kind of makes you feel guilty for complaining about a little cold.

Wicked Awesum!!

Well, that's how I would summarize my MLK weekend in Boston. Despite some rough times due to bad sweet and sour chicken (curse you Kee Kar La...no really I swear it was the chicken and not all the beer that made me sick..well that plus the stomach flu bug that was going around). But anyways, let's get back to reality. I had a blast catching up with the Cuse crew in Beantown. Friday night was spent taking in The Modeles hearing my man Zing get wicked with the drums. Saturday afternoon I lit up the Harvard field for 2 td catches in the MLK Bowl. Then we braved the sub-zero temperatures for a night out downtown.

Sunday brought some great games of Madden 2003 and a pathetic performance by the whole Eagles squad. What were these guys thinking? Hey, let's surprise the Bucs by not blitzing them until the 3rd quarter and on offense we will play right into their hands. It was a sad day for our group of D-Nabb fans. Then, it was off to the Royal Rumble- my first live WWE ppv. The night started slow, then Benoit-Angle tore the roof off the mutha'. Yeah I know it is all fake, but those two guys put on some athletic show-even so that Benoit lost and left to a standing ovation from fans of the town of Nomah.

The weekend left me with some great quotes topped off by this response to my quest for bread- "We have bread,.........but I wouldn't eat it." I had some good one-liners during the Madden games including:
"Dig that zany sidearm style"- after Rich Gannon slings in a short in
"This game will be decided by turnovers and special teams" "This is a pivotal possession in this game." "Pennington inspires the whole team- he makes them believe they will win." "Ricky Williams has more Yac this weekend than me."

Well my Habs have changed coaches and now traded Jeff Hackett. Too bad he ended up with the Bruins- whoops. Nice deal by the B's who add a goalie and Jeff Jillson-another Rhode Island hockey star to their roster. Hey at least Saku Koivu will be in the All-Star game.

Time for sleep- will try to get more updates this weekend. As always boys and girls- "Be Like Chad!"
Super Bowl pick: Raiders-27 Bucs-13.

Mmmmmm...McNuggets...that was one fun-ny Simpsons last night. Homer Simpson is one of the greatest tv characters of all time. Ok, you don't care about that- you want the sports scoop. So, here you go....
Now as the conductor on the C-H-A-D bandwagon ( I even handed the tickets to Steve Young), I was not surprised by yesterday's result. (just check the archives to see my pick) I knew Oakland would apply the pressure and the Jets couldn't handle it. I thought it would be too much Charlie Garner, but Jerry Porter came up big. I thought San Fran would put up a better showing, but they were pretty banged up. I still like Oakland and Philly next week.

Huge win for the Cuse tonight. I am not going to go out and say this is a Final 4 team, but man they are fun to watch. If they can keep this team together for a couple of years- look out. Tough game at Pitt this weekend, but a win there could launch SU into the top 15.

Mmmmm..donuts. Just some Saturday night words of wisdom as I flip between Habs-Sabres and Eagles-Falcons. No tears shed for the Steelers today. Maybe next year they can get Ray Lucas and play 5 QB/WR's at one time and run all sorts of gadgets play...or they could get a cornerback since I don't think Dewayne Washington cut it in the overtime today-letting Justin Mccareins ( the Justin from American Idol?) school him big time. Looks like D-Nabb's ankle is holding up well so far (knock on wood).
Now that we are into 2003 I thought I would give you my list of what is in and out for me this year (links included for those of you who want to hop on the bandwagon):

Category
Music-In:Coldplay Out:Anything by Ja Rule with a female R&B singer (that takes care of 47 songs)In: Bond Out: Limp Bizkit
Jersey- In:Chad Pennington's #10 Out:Kordell Stewart's #10
In:Yao Ming's 11 Out:Drew Bledsoe's #11
Thursday Night TV- In:The Surreal Life Out: ER
Sports Crush- In:Sue Bird Out: Michelle Kwan (but only because she is married)
Donuts- In:Tim Hortons(hopefully soon to be in Syracuse) Out:Krispy Kreme
Cuse Hoops Player- In:GerryMcNamara Out: Deshawn Williams and Preston Shumpert (not missed this year)
Fantasy Baseball Pick from Toronto- In:Josh Phelps Out: Shannon Stewart

Ok time to watch the second half of this game. Playoff recap will be here Sunday or Monday. Less than one week to my return to Boston for what is sure to be a "wicket awsum weekend of paaahtying in summaville"

I'm tired.....very, very tired. So tired that I can't sleep, so you get some of my ramblings. Just about to finish one of the longest weeks of my life, but it has been very enjoyable. (Just wait I will get to some sports stuff later) You know sometimes in life you get to meet some really great people and my job has allowed me that opportunity. I won't get into specifics, but I have had the honor and privilege to hang out with some cool folks. Sure they give me a hard time....but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Who says the Big East is top heavy? Stop slamming the conference cnnsi.com. Cuse continues to battle hard, but the next few games will show where they are at. All I know is that watching Gerry McNamara for four years is going to be a great thing. What a gamer...and you know those are the players I like.

Did you watch The Surreal Life tonight? It's like a car crash- you know you shouldn't look, but you have to. Please let them bring Corey Haim over for a visit....and a Playmate can't get a date? yeah right. How does Hammer survive this time without his posse? Why does Emanuelle Lewis laugh after everything he says?

Getting ready for another big weekend of football. Food and drink picks for this weekend: Burgers over Pizza, Molson over Bud Light and Dunkin Donuts over Krispy Kreme big. Other upcoming events for me- checking out Undercover Brother which gets the Cisco Seal of Approval (tm pending).

Just realized I haven't seen Sue Bird lately-so I better go hit a Google Search. See ya.

Say what you want about Terrell Owens, but man the guy plays hard each week. He might be a jerk and have a huge ego-who cares when you make plays all game and draw so much attention from the other team. Shockey and Toomer were also impressive for the Giants. Cleveland just choked that game away-no excuses there. Thanks for giving me another week of Bill Cowher's jaw.

My picks for this weekend- SF, Philly, Tenn, and.....Oakland. Shocked? Asking yourself how I can go against Pennington-the guy I talk about every post? Well it is simple-veteran team at home with an extra week of rest has the edge. Yes, the Raiders are banged up in the secondary, but they will pressure C-H-A-D. Also look for lots of Charlie Garner this weekend and that spells trouble for the Jets.

Conference play starts up in earnest this week. Pitt looks tough and I'm telling you the Big East will be good this year....better from top to bottom than the ACC and Big Ten. Talk about that one at the water cooler tomorrow.

That was some college football game on Friday night. I have to admit that I thought Miami would win by more than 10, but Ohio State showed a stronger pass rush than I thought they had. They really made Dorsey look uncomfortable and forced the issue in the first half. Krenzel was tough- taking all of those shots. I wonder why Tressel was so conservative in the 4th quarter, but hey it worked out. As far as the controversial call, well I didn't think it was interference since Gamble easily had his hands on the ball. However, my biggest problem is with the timing of the flag. If it is interference, then don't wait for the ball to hit the ground-just throw it. This is becoming too common in college and the NFL- receiver doesn't make the catch and stands up pointing for a flag and then here it comes. Someone needs to put a stop to this.

Anyone know who has been talking up this Chad Pennington guy for weeks now? Oh yeah, that would be me. J-E-T-S! Eeeeuuuuuppp!

On a personal note, last night I put on a karoake show the likes of which people may have never seen. What songs did I do? Well glad you asked. Here's the list: "Hot in Herre", "Genie in a Bottle", "Yellow", "Lose Yourself" and "Ice Ice Baby". It was a small crowd and I was a little rusty on some of these, but next time I will dig deeper into the repertoire. Maybe I will take this show on the road to Boston in a couple of weeks.

“It’s All About the Global Good”
2002 is in the books and this is what I think of it all: Kobe is not MJ yet, but then again no one in the NBA has stepped up to that level…4th place finishes for both my fantasy teams (baseball and football) – this needs to improve next year…if you don’t already do so, you should be reading Tuesday Morning Quarterback on espn.com’s Page 2 …great to see Saku Koivu make it back to the Habs….this year I took in games at: P & C Stadium, McCoy Stadium, Carrier Dome, The Vet, Skydome, Molson Centre, Alumni Stadium- will look to expand on this list in 2003…..I missed a lot of movies this year-going to be visiting Blockbuster often this winter

RIP Teddy Ballgame, Johnny U, and Jam Master Jay

Now some thoughts as we start off 2003: Yes I am on the Chad Pennington bandwagon, but I was on early baby handing out the tickets…can’t wait to catch this year’s Orangemen hoops team in action- the Big East is back in a big way this year…it’s real early but keep an eye out for these guys for your fantasy baseball squad- Mike Hampton- watch Leo Mazzone rock him back into shape, Jeff Bagwell- hitting between Berkman and Kent will mean big RBI’s, Mike Mussina-rebounds from rough 2002, also look for better numbers from Adam Dunn and a full season from Josh Phelps in Toronto….. NFL Rookie of the Year for 2003 will be Larry Johnson….Sacramento will not win the NBA title this year….Jason Kidd will not join Tim Duncan in San Antonio….