Is It Football Yet?

Since I do this on the side and for fun only, I usually basically take the offseason, well, off. But this year has been exceptionally quiet. There is a reason, but what's important now is that the draft is long over, training camp is in its second week, we're a week from the Eagles first pre-season game versus the Steelers, and it's time to brush off the dust and kick my football brain back into gear.

Seeing as I've been pretty out of the loop for the key mini camp months, I'll be watching the pre-season games carefully to see how the Eagles new acquisitions fare, how the guys who stuck around from the shopping spree last year are looking, and whether the team's superstars are ready to lead a deep playoff run for 2012 (the answer to that last one better be "HELL yes!").

I plan to post at least some games notes from the pre-season games I'm able to catch, and OF COURSE I'll post my annual walk-of-shame pre-season picks. Making a fool of myself since 2005 all for you.

For my DC area peeps, things are going to run a little differently for game day this year. Rather than just having an open invitation every week and often not getting a critical mass of people, we're going to choose ONE Sunday/game per month and do actual invitations, so we get a good crowd and can plan accordingly.

The first one will be Sunday, September 30, when the Eagles face the Giants on Sunday Night Football and honor Brian Dawkins by retiring his number. Life-Long Eagles Fan Mom and You-Two-Calm-Down-or-I'm-Turning-Off-the-TV Dad will be in town for the weekend to celebrate Dad's birthday. The menu will feature 100% from scratch enchiladas, and the evening is likely to include a tequila tasting. We'll be open for business starting with the 4 pm game. Mark your calendars now!

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Godspeed, Wolverine

Brian Dawkins announced that he will be retiring from the NFL this morning. The Eagles have, of course, invited him to come back and retire as an Eagle.

Lots has been going on in the NFL, and I haven't posted about any of it - I know - but I had to take a minute to post this:

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Super Bowl 46 Recap

It's official. Eli Manning is Bill Belichick's kryptonite.

Raise your hand if you had the "safety" square as the first score in your office football pool. Yeah, me neither.

Fortunately, the game got better after that. And it *was* a pretty good game, even if it was between two teams I really did not want to watch again this season.

Leading up to kickoff, I was still thinking that the Pats would win, although after all the "Tom Brady is a god - A GOD!!!" talk on the pre-game shows, I had convinced myself that the Giants winning was the lesser of two evils. Which I guess it still is. Sorta.

If you had told me that the receiver who dropped the key pass would be Wes Welker and the receiver who caught the key pass would be Mario Manningham BEFORE the game, I would've said you were nuts. Just goes to show how much I know.

Obviously Ahmad Bradshaw was supposed to go down on the 1, letting the Giants run the clock down and kick the field goal for the win. But oops - he scored a TD. Normally, leaving Tom Brady with a full  minute would've been a mistake. But the Pats receivers were not sharp in the second half last night, and the Giants hung on for the win.

If Madonna was going to reprise "Like a Prayer" backed by a gospel choir, I gotta point out: what was with all the white people? And what was with the ultra-slo-mo assisted cartwheels? And the giant "WORLD PEACE" at the end of her set? It's a puzzlement.

In the meantime:

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Super Bowl 46 Picks

The Giants and the Patriots will be facing off in Indianapolis this Sunday, February 5. You know, just in case you've been living under a rock or so mesmerized by the Republican debates that you've forgotten about all other types of media.

If you recall, the last time they met in the Super Bowl - a mere four years ago (but I'm not bitter) - the Giants played spoiler to the Patriots' attempt at a perfect season, beating the Pats 17-14 and significantly aided by David Tyree's miracle helmet catch.

I don't think that's going to happen again.

Yes, since I can't have what I really want - a time machine that will take us back to week 4, when the Eagles SHOULD have woken up (as opposed to week 12, when they actually did) - or what I wanted as an alternative - a Ravens/49ers Super Bowl - I'll sigh, place my faith in the Pats, pray for a natural disaster, and watch for the commercials.

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2011 Conference Championships Recap

Patriots over Ravens. Billy Cundiff: C’mon man! I know it's easy to scapegoat the kicker, but this one really was his fault. Missing a 32 yard field goal to tie the AFC Championship game with 11 seconds in regulation is just unacceptable. Guess who'll be kicking for the CFL next year?

Giants over 49ers: Kyle Williams: C’mon man! Special teams can make or break you, and his boneheaded mishandling of the punt and his boneheaded fumble led directly to 10 Giants points, including the field goal that won the game in overtime. But at least he'll have company in the CFL next year.


The Snark? 0-2 this weekend.

At least they were both good games, but I was so sad at the end of both. I really wanted a Ravens/49ers Super Bowl, and I really don’t give a good goddamn about the game now. I’ll be rooting for a natural disaster to swallow up Colts’ stadium.


The Ravens FINALLY swept the Steelers for the first time ever(?) this year, and Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are probably retiring.

Jim Harbaugh managed to effect a remarkable transformation in San Francisco in his rookie year as a head coach. Alex Smith finally started to live up to his promise. And they have my secret kicker boyfriend David Akers (Philadelphians are irrationally attached to the guy). And Vernon Davis doesn’t have a whole lot of years left, ether.

Meanwhile, we'll get to watch another Super Bowl between two totally self-satisfied teams with two of the most annoying fan bases in any pro sports.

But I’m not bitter.

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2011 Conference Championship Picks

Sticking with the "defense wins championships" theory:

Ravens at Patriots: I sure as hell hope the good Ravens show up, or this will be a hot mess. But I'm picking based on the "God is now royally pissed" theory and going with the Ravens. Also, defense.

Giants at 49ers: 49ers. By the way, yes, it's totally killing me that the Eagles missed the playoffs by [this] much. And that a reason they missed the playoffs by [this] much is that they lost to the 49ers by [this] much in week 4. I should stop now, before I go jump off the roof. There's always next year...

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The Business of Football

Fascinating infographic shared with me by a reader (thanks Dan!)

IBM SmartCloud Enterprise Solutions

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