League of Melbotis

Football on Sunday

Despite Peabo's warnings, I went ahead and checked out a few NFL games this Sunday.

As mentioned, I did not have time to read up on the NFL standings this year going into the season. I was a little more aware of what was happening with the Cardinals than in prior seasons, mostly due to the local fervor regarding the new stadium plus the addition of Leinart to the Card's line-up. And this may sound odd, but it was also the first home game I'd seen on TV. All prior games would take place in the open-air Sun Devil Stadium, which meant that you were asking joes like The League to shell out a minimum of $60 to go sit in the nosebleed seats and bake in the sun.

I like football and all, but, you know... No. The Cardinals are also one of the clever teams that erroneously believes that blacking out the game is a good way to sell seats. What the organization failed to understand was that nobody was interested in paying $200 to see a mediocre/bad team lose a game in 100+ degree heat. But we might sit through commercials which would generate revenue.

Anyway, The Cards have a stadium with a roof and HVAC system. It is sold out for the entire 2006 season. And the games are on the air. Everybody wins.

Including the Cards, who looked like a great team for 30 minutes. Not so much the second half, but the first half was stellar.

Looking at some scores around the NFL:

Philadelphia bests Houston 24 -10, proving that the good people of Houston may have been on to something when every single person in town suggested that they should dump their current QB and try for a new recruit in the draft, VY or otherwise. Plus, McNabb is back.

Seattle squeaks past Detroit 9-6, both teams looking pretty bad. And, man, this was a boring game. Seattle apparently forgot that they were ten times better than this last year.

A lot of commentators are going to have to retract early predictions regarding the Panthers this season if the 20-6 loss to the Falcons is any indication.

Frikkin' Jets. I really was hoping for something more from the Titans. Ah, well.

Dallas lost. I didn't see the game, so I have no idea what happened.

And, yeah, Tampa Bay lost. The NFL is taking a while to learn the lessons that any UT fan could have told them: This is Chris Simms, not Phil. Go find Major Applewhite to get someone who can finish a game for Chris.

Sweet mother of murgatroid, how I despise that interception throwing, clutch-choking hoser.

and....

Dear Mr. Favre,

How can I miss you if you won't go away?

Love,

The League

The other oddity of the NFL season: Getting used to the network shake-ups and commentators.

Where the @#$% is James Brown? How am I supposed to understand what Terry Bradshaw is saying if JB isn't there to decipher his hillbilly nonsense? I like Joe Buck. He's a top notch commentator. But Where is JB?

Oh, wait... wikipedia says:

He left Fox at the end of the 2005 NFL season to rejoin CBS Sports, and also to call NCAA basketball.

The NBC Sunday Night team was okay. I like the idea of bringing in everybody's favorite veteran/wacky neighbor with Jerome Bettis. Costas and Sharpe are great, but Collinsworth? Eh.

I guess I'll be curious to see what the Monday Night Football line-up is on ESPN.

Oh, and I confess that I was happy to see Bonnie Bernstein on the sidelines the other day at the Oklahoma game. I think she'll be at the Monday Night football game as well. Bonnie has been haunting the peripheray of the sports casting world for a long time (and haunting my dreams... Say, this just turned into a mini "DITHMTLOD"...) , never really becoming a Michelle Tafoya, while showing ten times the chops of, say, Melissa Stark.

That lady really knows how to nod earnestly while simultaneously holding up a microphone to a sweaty football player.