Super Sunday

There's not a lot of new news to report from our house.

Last week was a busy one. My regular work required me to go hard during the day, and then my graduate work had me pretty tied up at night. On Friday night and Saturday morning I attended my graduate classes, and I spent the remainder of Saturday afternoon in my office trying to get some extra work done. Last night we watched the big KU-Missouri game ... which the Jayhawks should have won, but I'm not going to waste my time griping about it.

Yesterday, we did our usual church and Sunday School routine and then came home for a couple hours and grabbed some lunch before heading back to the church for the afternoon. Our church is offering Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course; Kates and I registered and think it will be good for us to pick up some financial pointers in these tough economic times. We'll be in that course for the next 13 weeks.

And then -- cue NBC Sunday Night Football music -- the Super Bowl ...

* * *

Let's start with the musical performances ...

Kelly Clarkson’s national anthem gave me chills and made me smile. It was perfectly simple, and I loved the sound of children accompanying her.

Madonna's halftime show? I didn't like it so much.

The dancing was awkward and bordered on awful. I would have been content to watch Madonna pace the stage and sing instead of seeing her perform some of those lame kick moves and prance around with toga-clad men. The cameos by LMFAO and Cee-Lo (Spinner tweeted: We've decided we all want Cee Lo's sequined snuggie) were nice, but ...

What was M.I.A. trying to pull when she flipped the bird to her nationally televised audience? ... For the record, I was looking away from the TV when the gesture occurred. A few minutes later I saw a tweet from someone wondering if anyone else saw what he thought he'd seen. And by the end of the game it was all over the internet -- with pictures.

The one upside of Madonna's show were the special effects, particularly during “Like a Prayer.”



Here's a blog from The Washington Post that closes reflects my observations of the performance.

* * *

I've said in recent years that I've thought the quality of the Super Bowl commercials has waned over the years, as if we've been primed to expect commercials that are more comical, more explosive, more dazzling than the year before. Thus, I watched with considerably lower expectations this year.

On top of that, we got a whole week worth of previews this year as some companies leaked their Super Bowl commercials early. Sure, I get that the internet is changing the media landscape, but the leaks make companies' decisions to throw millions of dollars at a 30-second spot during the big game even more questionable.

One of the most-talked about commercials during the week leading up to the Super Bowl, of course, was the Honda spot with Matthew Broderick reprising his Ferris Bueller. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thought it was overrated.

My favorite commercials -- hands-down -- were those from Chevy ...





As well as Volkswagen's doggy/Star Wars commercials -- great follow-ups to last year's classic Darth Vadar kid. The latter commercial from this year was one of those released early ...





I give honorable mentions to Hyundai's spot just before kickoff that featured employees singing the Rocky theme.



Best Buy ...



NFL.com's "Timeline" ...



And Samsung's commercial because of its ridiculous incorporation of that one-hit wonder, The Darkness's "I Believe In A Thing Called Love."




You can watch more of the best and worst commercials here.

* * *

Like most years -- last year being the exception, of course, when the Packers were playing -- the game was mostly background noise.

After we returned from church the second time, Kates and Phoebe made a grocery store run while I took in the pregame. They returned with plenty of goods and fixings to build some homemade sub sandwiches; I made a toasted seafood sandwich. And it was good.

At 3 years old, Phoebe is at an age now where she's starting to understand when something exciting is happening and can join in the fun. Rather than just being present in the room and being content with some blocks.

"Welcome to the Super Bowl, Phoebe!" I said in the midst of a high point in the game.
"I'm not there," she said, shaking her head and licking her ice cream cone.

She sat next to Kates on the couch, eating her supper and dessert, watching the game and taking it all in. Later, she intently watched as Kates and I judged the halftime performance and debated whether Madonna was lip-syncing. "I think she's really singing," Phoebe proclaimed.

If I had to tell you which team I was rooting for, I picked the Giants. But I wouldn't have minded a Patriots win, either.

I like the Giants for their scrappy play, Eli Manning as the ever-underdog, and because there's a Bearcat on the roster.

I like the Patriots because I think of them as a classy organization that has been built more on steady leadership than buying the best talent. And when a franchise has that going for them I don't mind watching them pile up the trophies as a true dynasty -- even though most fans now loathe the Patriots because of their success.

As it turned out, the Giants got the best of the Pats again, in another classic championship game that closely resembled the classic championship game they played a few years ago -- with Mario Manningham playing the role of David Tyree. (... And Letterman's rant after the Giants won that Super Bowl remains a classic.)

Something told me all week that the Giants had the edge again. And the moment Tom Brady was called for a safety  to end New England's first possession set the tone for the rest of the game. ... The Giants played with the Pats and then put the game away when they needed -- with an unusual touchdown run.

Here's some good reads I've collected leading up to the Super Bowl and afterward ...

Pregame ...
a Blocking for the Patriots Coach So He Can Do His Job
a Family Ties a Plus for Mannings
a Peyton Manning a Cheerleader for His Brother
a For Belichick, Fond Memories of New York (Giants, Not Jets)
a Early Patriots Were a Comical Traveling Sideshow
a Brady’s emergence and a super season started Patriots’ decade of dominance
a For Giants, Quarterback and Coach Together in Excellence
a Catching On After a Last Chance: Giants’ Cruz Defied Odds at UMass
a With Coach After Coach, the Same Vigilant Face

(Updated 02.07.2012) Post game ...
a Super Bowl XLVI Line by Line ... A light slideshow of drawings worth watching.
a Talent won out, as Patriots lost out in Super Bowl XLVI
a Sequel has same ending
a History repeats
a As losses go, we’ve seen worse
a In save situation, an opportunity lost
a Settling In at the Top of Their Game
a Bradshaw's Reluctant Touchdown puts to rest an unusual Super Bowl
a Situation hard to grasp for Welker
a Manning, Coughlin are content
a In the end, Giant difference in talent

Sunday reading

Here they are, a special Labor Day edition of my Sunday reading ...

Sports ...
a Can you hear me now? Radio calls in NFL defenders' helmets
a Thumbs down on Jay Mariotti and his final scene ... this is a great read from Roger Ebert regarding Jay Mariotti's resignation from the Sun-Times
a Mariotti: Love-hate even in exit
a How do '08 Patriots move on? 'You improve by winning it all'
a Maybe the Cubbies aren't so lovable after all ... From my old pal Joe Posnanski.
a Replay is good, needed first step ... I agree, but it shouldn't go any further than boundary calls.
a Derrek Lee sees truth in Obama's statement ... Sadly, I agree with Obama, too. But I am one of the few people who go there to actually watch the baseball ...

Olympics ...
a USA looks back then ahead
a A Win for U.S. Swimmers and Black Children, Too ... This is a good read stemming from that amazing swim relay that started the Beijing Olympics.
a Suits swimming in attention ... Yeah, I noticed too.

TV ...
a Chelsea Handler's late-night snark
a Rachel Maddow, MSNBC's Newest Left Hand

Music ...
a More musicians saying 'iDon't think so' to iTunes
a Former Beach Boy Brian Wilson delivers 'That Lucky Old Sun'

Life & other stuff ...
a Mad About You: Having a Job That Ticks Off Everybody Isn't as Bad as You Might Think
a Informant offered rare look inside gang
a Superman's story: Did a fatal robbery forge the Man of Steel?
a Jeff Ruby's Day Off: The Closer tests the legendary Ferris Bueller Timeline Problem
a Obama Modifies 'Yes We Can' Message To Exclude Area Loser ... A great one from The Onion. Not only is the story hilarious -- as usual -- but the sign is classic, too.

Onion reads!

Cleaning out some good Onion reads from the last few weeks ...

Big Game Coming Up

NEW YORK—A major contest between two high-quality teams in a major sport is scheduled to take place in the immediate future, multiple media...

Canseco: 'Hey Guys, Who Wants To Come To My Big Steroid Party This Weekend?'

MIAMI—Former MLB star and admitted steroid user Jose Canseco extended an informal invitation Monday to over 500 current and former professional baseball players, requesting their presence at his house this coming weekend for his annual...

Bush Vows To Make It Up To Country Somehow

WASHINGTON—Amid allegations that his thoughtless and insensitive decisions have damaged his relationship with the nation, President George W. Bush vowed Monday that he would, starting now, "make everything better."

Mattress Store Experiments With Non-Blowout Sale

RICHMOND, VA—Customers were assured they would get a pretty good deal on a brand-name mattress. Not an out-of-this-world, unheard-of deal. But pretty good.

Nation's Women Thank Sports Illustrated For Helping Them Make Well-Informed Swimsuit Choices

NEW YORK—Weeks after their 2008 swimsuit issue hit newsstands, Sports Illustrated continues to be deluged with mail from appreciative...

Patriots' Season Perfect For Rest Of Nation

FOXBOROUGH, MA—As the once-invincible, still-insufferable Patriots attempt to come to grips with their 17-14 Super Bowl loss to the Giants, the death of their dream to go undefeated, and the possible end of their dynasty, almost every other...

Nation's Presidential Assassins Still Undecided

NEW YORK— As evidenced by the hundreds of newspaper clippings of various presidential candidates glued to his bedroom walls and ceiling, Vietnam veteran Dale Patrick Seaver, 52, is clearly an informed voter. But after watching over 50 debates, countless speeches, and nonstop campaign coverage at "all hours of the night," this presidential assassin has not yet decided who his choice will be in November...

Sunday reading

Kates and I now have a crib and a stroller for Baby ... Guess what I'll be setting up the next couple of nights?

Fun, fun, fun.

Here's my good reads from the past week ...

Sports ...
a Brett Favre retirement announcement an error
a 10 Truths: Loss of Moss would sink Patriots
a Clemens leaves Astros camp in Florida
a Fiery Milledge reflects Nationals' untapped potential
a Improved fitness tops 10 biggest spring training lies
a Michigan State's Tom Izzo complains about Big Ten Network ... good for him.

The Oscars ...
a Brad Renfro Excluded From Oscar Tribute
a Ratings sink for Oscars

The Internet ...
a The Wisdom of the Chaperones

Politics ...
a Finding Political Strength in the Power of Words
a Obama error: NBC reprimands employee for using picture of bin Laden behind Obama story

Life & other stuff ...
a Mt. St. Helens holds her fire
a Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business
a Starbucks: Did the training help? ... the best reading here is the readers' comments. I'm with the nay-sayers.

After the Super Bowl

Did I call it or what!? I know, me and a lot of other sports experts, but still ...

I'll laugh and roll my eyes at anyone who calls the Giants win shocking (Which a couple people already have as we're watching the postgame ...)

I'll grant that I would have been quite OK with the Patriots winning the game too and finishing off the rare perfect season. But the facts that the Giants came out of nowhere and caught fire in the playoffs, Eli Manning finally figured out how to play in the NFL and this was basically one of the best Super Bowl games ever makes it a lot more fun to soak up ...

The Giants did just about everything right tonight. And the Patriots couldn't find the holes.

I think Kates and I reacted the way just about everyone else in America did when Eli Manning somehow avoided that sack and launched a bomb that David Tyree somehow held onto ... and then Eli dumped a pass in the hands of Plexico Buress in the corner of the end zone to put the Giants ahead for good. A miraculous game-winng drive.

A game for the ages. Period.

* * *

So about those second-half commercials ...

1) Easily the E*Trade commercials with the talking baby. The first one with the little guy spitting up was funny, but the second one with the clown in the background really had me laughing out loud. Might have been my favorite of the whole night ...

2) The Coca-Cola commerical with the parade balloons chasing after the Coke bottle. So simple. So good.

3) Cars.com came through with another good one in the second half with the witch doctor.

And my honorable mention for the second half goes to the Bud Light commercial with the ability to fly.

On a side note, we saw a commercial for the upcoming Pixar film "WALL-E." Kates and I first saw the trailer when we caught "Juno" last weekend. How adorable is that little robot!? ... I so want to see it.

* * *

Kates spent part of the second half looking through the Sunday advertisments ...

And she found a couple inserts advertising a baby sale ...

"A baby sale!" she announced sarcastically. "I wonder how much!?"

Then later when she found a similar advertisment, "Oh, they're having a baby sale too! Buy two and save!"

Nice.

Sunday reading

Some of the reads that piqued my interest during the last couple weeks ...

Before the Super Bowl ...
a XLI Years Ago, the Super Bowl Was Just An X-Small ... a fascinating read.
a For Aikman, A Seamless Conversion
a '85 Patriots see themselves in '07 Giants
a Fans should be praying for Pats win
a Routs rare for perfect Pats
a Road-tested Giants oozing with confidence
a The Alternative: Great game ... if you like the Pats
a Stress of watching the big game can be hazardous to heart, research suggests ... Great. I'm doomed. It's not so much the Super Bowl -- it's the way I get into some of my Cubs and Jayhawks games that worry me ...

Baseball ...
a Tom Verducci: Team Clemens' latest defense doesn't prove anything ... equally interesting was that Pettitte now appears to be getting behind McNamee.
a Cashman should have pulled the trigger for Santana
a Top three spots set; back of Cubs rotation to be determined at camp

Music ...
a Orpheus Puts Down His Lyre (No More Records) ... There's few things like a good record store. And a good-sounding vinyl.
a Stephin Merritt, indie-rock's chameleon
a Stephen King's Top Tunes of 2007 ... he has great taste. There's also a photo gallery of some of his favorites here.

TV & film ...
a Striking Television Writers Have Different Story Lines But None of Them Knows How This Chapter Will End

Politics ...
a Barack Obama, Camelot's New Knight
a Kennedys for Clinton
a At SOTU, Obama's Clinton snub was the news ... whatever. This was the only place I saw anything of it.
a How to End the Gridlock
a Candidates' Tunes Hit A Few Sour Notes
a For John Edwards, A Moment of Truth
a Margaret Truman Daniel Dies at Age 83

Life & other stuff ...
a Bid to Replace Tomb Monument Stalls
a Lost Chicago, found on film
a Every snowflake tells own story
a Huge Lawsuit Could Change Handling of the Dead
a Genetic mutation makes those brown eyes blue
a Cable TV bills with a twist ... An interesting story from the aftermath of our tornadoes.

Sunday reading

... So I got my ice skating fix today. Woo hoo! ... It's not a Wisconsin winter without getting on the frozen pond at least once a year ...

That was the highlight of the day. Here was the lowlight ...

When I put my contacts in this morning, I knew immediately something wasn't right. And when I went back to the bathroom to try adjusting them, I didn't do much good ... Nevertheless, I pressed on, and Kates and I attended church, even though I was having so much trouble seeing out of my right eye I could barely make out the words in the hymnal ...

I tried adjusting them once more after we got home. But now the contact in my right eye was stuck to my eyeball -- I thought. I must've dumped almost half a bottle of saline solution on my eye to try getting it out, but nothing seemed to work. Ok, that can happen, I thought, I'll just try to get through the rest of the afternoon and hope it dries out enough that it just falls out ...

So we went ice skating ... And once we returned home again, I was back at it, trying to get that contact out of my right eye. I tried more saline solution. More rubbing my eye ... By the time Kates and I ate supper tonight, I was in such inexplicable pain and agony. I had practically gouged my eye ...

Only to realize at about 8:30 tonight that the contact lense I had been trying to fix all day was never in my eye ...

Oh, the pain and suffering.

Here's some of the good reads that piqued my interest during the last week ...

Sports ...
a Wrigley Field would get new neighbors under developer's proposal for hotel, apartments ... ugh.
a Lets stop pretending Wrigleyville is perfect ... I think this guy is a Sox fan.
a Albert Pujols still angry over being linked to Mitchell Report on steroids ... I'll give him the benefit of the doubt -- and I love the guy, really. But honestly, I was kind of surprised not to see his name on the list ...
a Deal with it: Bud is staying
a Brady's world an altar-nate universe
a Cardinals' unique stadium set to take center stage at Super Bowl

Politics ...
a How Will We Survive Another Year ... this one's a little old, but still relevant.
a Tribune endorses Obama
a The Kennedys embrace Obama
a The man behind the message: When Sen. Barack Obama gets behind a podium, he’s got a 26-year-old speechwriter to thank for his powerful words
a Obama's misuse of history
a Debate gets fiercely personal
a Why stop short? The Clintons are lying about Obama's remarks on Reagan
a A Clinton twofer's high price ... Great column. One thing I've learned in life is good times can rarely be duplicated ...
a President Heckler ... more great commentary on Bill.
a Billary's Adventures in Primaryland ... and more.
a The politics of personality: Do you like these people?
a Transformer candidates: It's amazing to watch the presidential contenders bend and twist into whatever they need to be

Entertainment ...
a Garth Brooks is almost the retiring sort
a Grammy-nominated videos include Feist, Johnny Cash ... The Feist video and Mute Math's "Typical" are by far the videos of the year ...
a Marketers announce ad lineup for Super Bowl
a Marketers going all out to make impression on Super Bowl audience
a NBC's new `Lipstick Jungle' similar to ABC's `Cashmere Mafia,' but neither series measures up ... Too bad. And yet, not surprising. We're still watching "Mafia," but it's starting to wear thin ...
a Ritter's family says he didn't have to die ... very interesting.
a Southern-bred actress has field day with role of devious co-worker ... Angela Kinsey rocks.

Life & other stuff ...
a Dubious title for O'Hare: World's most flight cancellations
a 10 Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You

The Onion ...

Brett Favre Still Taking Post-Game Shower

GREEN BAY, WI—The Packers confirmed Wednesday evening that quarterback Brett Favre had yet to emerge from the Lambeau Field locker-room shower...

Tom Brady's foot

Why!? are we talking about Tom Brady's foot.

So he was spotted walking in a cast. Big deal.

He's Tom Brady. He's with the Patriots. And the Super Bowl is still 11 days away.

David Letterman had the line of the season the other night after his guest Dan Patrick predicted the Giants would win the Super Bowl ... Letterman told Patrick, The Giants could be up 60 to nothing at halftime, and the Patriots would still win the game 67-60. They're that good!

But you know what? I'm with Patrick. I would not be surprised if the Giants did win.

Sunday reading

What a weekend for football ...

That Packers-Seahawks game!? Awesome ... Kates and I were putting our Christmas decorations away as we watched it, but with all that snow it seemed like we should have been putting them up! Ryan Grant was phenomenal. The whole season has been phenomenal ...

As Kates and I were out for lunch today we over heard an older man say "The only thing the Bears did this year was teach the Packers how to play in the snow." Got that right. If Green Bay would have done just a few things differently in their three losses, we could very well be talking about two perfect teams in the NFL this year ...

And then did anyone think the Patriots were going to lose? Right.

Then today. As we settled in for the games I mused out loud that if everything fell into place, next weekend would be a doozy: Patriots-Colts. Cowboys-Packers ... Ah, but it wasn't meant to be ...

I was rooting for the Colts, though I'm not entirely surprised the Chargers took care of them ... and then! How' bout them Giants!? I'm sure the whole neighborhood heard us hoopin' and hollerin' when R.W. McQuarters intercepted Tony Romo's final pass. Kates and I looked at each other, slapped a high five and chimed "See ya in Green Bay!"

Good stuff.

Catching up on several weeks worth of good reads. Here they are ...

Sports ...
a Which teams got their holiday wishes?
a Dawson getting robbed worse than Santo ... It doesn't matter. They both deserve to get in.
a Price high for Orioles' Roberts: But Cubs seem ready to add Marshall to get quality leadoff man ... Sounds like a good deal to me ... as long as it doesn't include Matt Murton.
a Alderman wary of Wrigley deal ... I kind of side with the alderman on this one. No one wants to see Wrigley turn into some schmaltzy, over-commercialized ballpark -- at least no more than it is already.
a Dope Springs Eternal ... Good stuff from my friend Matt.
a Favre in charge: There's just no beating St. Brett ... Fercripesakes! Have I mentioned how much fun we're having this season!? My friend Raechel sent this one ...

Media & the Internet ...
a Zero tolerance on the air: Even Woods' defense can't keep golf analyst from paying for remark
a Sun-Times wrestles with new reality
a Chicago Sun-Times newsroom layoffs only just beginning
a William Shatner and Priceline.com have both benefited from his stint as company spokesman
a People Are Doing Double-Takes, And Taking Action, As Web Snapshots Are Nabbed for Commercial Uses

Politics ...
a CLASS PRESIDENT 2008 ... a good perspective.
a Obama: Judge Him by His Laws
a Obama Tries to Prove Electability to Blacks in S.C.
a Parties Trading Places
a High-profile backers offer message and momentum
a Presidential Pet Display Finds a Place to Park ... now this is an exhibit I could really dig.
a Playing That '70s Funk Again, but Not in a Good Way ... Interesting how history repeats itself.
a Women Are Never Front-Runners

TV & Entertainment ...
a Ad-Libbing Late-Night Shows' Return ...Letterman and "A Daily Show" haven't been too bad so far ... Letterman shaving his beard during the show and having Goose Gossage deliver a Top 10 list? Not bad at all.
a Letterman, Leno, Conan and Kimmel return to late night talk shows
a Late-night hosts back on schedule: Audience may prove tough to draw back ... I could see it.
a Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had their jokes ready. Clearly there was some writing going on
a A sequel with the same ending: As they did in the '88 writers strike, the studios are pushing themselves out of the picture
a Jamie Lynn Spears is not the first teen to have a baby
a As Scripts Run Out, Reality Kicks In
a A TV Lover's Lament ... Um. I don't miss it so much.
a 'Daisies' is lone new broadcast TV show to earn Globe nod ... Ok. I am missing 'Daisies.'
a Writers' Work Stoppage Will Soon Have Quite an Impact. Here's What's at Stake
a Katherine Heigl: outspoken
a Rainn Wilson: My Life During the Strike

Music ...
a The industry watches Radiohead's experiment as the album arrives on CD months after its online release
a Hannah Montana's double -- Report: Transformation to Miley Cyrus during concert involves stand-in ... interesting revelation. And in related (ludicrous!) news: Mom Apologizes for Hannah Montana Essay

Life & other stuff ...
a City residents can trade in Christmas trees
a Last Air Jordans? Nike unveils 23rd Air Jordan ... and I've never ever owned a pair.
a Tata Reveals World's Cheapest Car
a 15 Weirdest Work Stories of 2007
a Picturing the World, Around Us ... Saw this exhibit several weeks ago. It's good stuff.
a C'mon, Get Happy? It's Easier Said Than Done
a 50 things I've learned in 50 years, a partial list in no particular order
a Make it a new year, not just another year ... a New Year's resolution all of us should live by.

Just perfect

Kates and I are in Ohio tonight.

We've just finished meeting and spending much of the day with our new niece. She's adorable.

Now we're back in our hotel room. Kates is in the corner reading a book, and I'm watching the Patriots finish off the Giants and their perfect regular season ...

The Giants, as I predicted when the Patriots were losing the game earlier tonight, have fallen apart in the fourth quarter. The Pats started putting the pressure on a bumbling Eli Manning and took control.

And then, how about that go-ahead touchdown! Seconds earlier, Tom Brady had thrown a bomb to Randy Moss, but the ball was underthrown and Moss dropped it. Then they go back and try the exact same play again and -- bam! -- Moss catches it in stride for a 65-yard touchdown that not only gives the Patriots the lead, but gives Brady the record for most touchdown passes in a season and Moss the record for touchdown receptions in a season.

I've said it all season long. I was cheering for the Pats to go 16-0. They're a classy team that's oh so talented and fun to watch. Plain and simple.

Red Sox win the World Series. Patriots go 16-0 and look like a good bet for the Super Bowl. And the Celtics are looking unstoppable. Oh, to be in Boston right now ...

Sunday reading

Some of the reads that piqued my interest this last week ...

Sports ...
a University of Wisconsin, Washburn wrangling in court over ‘W’ logos ... Ah yes. The good 'ol Washburn 'W'. See Washburn is a rival of Northwest, and it struck me every time we played them how similar Washburn's 'W' looked to Wisconsin's 'W.' ... Not that I think the school needs to get sued over it, but it is interesting ...
a BCS got it right this time ... Whatever. Yes, it was a loony college football season, but it didn't make me any more hip to the BCS.
a Why clean up college football's lovely mess? ... Ditto.
a No favoritism toward Pats, or is there?
a Cuban's 'passion project': Buying Cubs
a A new boss in the Bronx
a Barry Bonds Pleads Not Guilty to Perjury
a Bonds' team has tough road ahead
a Baseball waits, wonders as Mitchell report on steroid use in the sport looms
a Gagne deal is for one year ... I think he's a has-been. But I'm willing to believe.

Internet & media ...
a Japan's Bloggers: Humble Giants of the Web
a Readers' online postings enliven site, merit caution
a The Decline Of The Critic

TV ...
a Zachary Quinto: Highly logical, for a human ... All I know is I detest is character in "Heroes."
a Pulling Their Punch Lines

Music ...
a No academy CDs? Play live!
a It's a holiday tune full of pure joy ... I remember the first time I heard this song too. December 1994. I was a sophomore in high school, getting ready to head to my job as a grocery clerk at the local Price Chopper. I was listening to my stereo in my room -- as usual. I started bouncing around my room, and I thought then that it was one of the greatest song's I'd ever heard ... Yeah. Here's the video.
a James Taylor returns to his roots
a Jordin Sparks maintains innocent charm in pop CD debut
a Blake Lewis, 'American Idol' runner-up, looks to move beyond the show with release of new CD
a Led Zeppelin's glorious excess ... I'm becoming a fan too. And here's one thing I won't soon forget: How cool it was a couple weeks ago to be glancing at the Billboard charts and seeing both Led Zeppelin and the Eagles with albums in the Top 10 ... whoah.
a The Song Still Remains The Same for Led Zeppelin
a The McCartney interview: 'I'm trying to create an antidote' for difficult times

Politics ...
a The Love Song of Dennis J. Kucinich
a Bush in Psych 101: 'Feeling... pretty good about life'

Life & other stuff ...
a Easy on the eggnog, Cinderella
a AT&T saying good-bye to its last pay phones
a D.C. leads metro areas in walkability

Songs in the key of life ... and sports

Nothing like starting the day before dawn. With shoveling ... And ending it long after dusk. With shoveling.

I hate winter. My back hates it too. And my knees.

I've never wanted a snow blower so badly.

... We got a solid couple inches of snow on Saturday, you may recall. And last night we got blasted with the second part of the storm. 10 inches. ... Kates woke me up at 6 this morning to go out and shovel; by then several inches had fallen and it was still coming. It took me about an hour to complete the job (we have a good sized two-car driveway and sidewalks on two sides of our house), before I went in to warm up and get myself ready for work -- only to see everything I cleared completely re-covered with snow by the time I came back out to leave for work. Grrrr!

And it proceeded to snow long and hard all morning ...

So when Kates and I finally arrived home about 7:30 tonight, I knew I had my work cutout for me again.

It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the dang plows, either. This year, it seems, they're plowing even closer to the curb -- which means less snow left on the roadway and more of it blocking the edge of our driveway. Beginning with the weekend storm, it's taken me almost as much time to remove the gargantuan chunks of snow left by the plows as it's taken me to shovel the rest of the driveway ... and when we came home tonight, it was obvious the plows had come through again because there at the end of our driveway was another blockade of snow ...

No problem. My little Neon punched through it like a tank.

Good thing it's powdery snow.

* * *

I've been wanting to say something about that Patriots-Ravens game the other night ... I only caught the fourth quarter, but ...

Holy cow! The Patriots survived -- or the Ravens botched -- four fourth downs during that final New England drive. Geez, the Ravens had Tom Brady stopped! Stuffed! on a fourth-and-one, only to have whistles blown in the Ravens defense's faces because one of their coaches had called a timeout ... Then the Ravens had the Pats stopped again on a run, only to have a Pats lineman called for a false start and Brady got another chance, which they converted. And a fourth fourth down play resulted in a holding call, before the Pats finally found the end zone for the 27-24 win ...

It was an incredible thing to watch ... And I'm not gonna lie -- I want to see the Patriots go 16-0. They're a classy team to watch, and I want to be able to say I remember when ...

* * *

... I opened our mailbox tonight, and there it was -- the issue I'd been waiting for -- Brett Favre in all his green and gold, as Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year.

The cover is an instant classic.

I can hardly wait to read it ...

I was talking with a friend about the Packers over supper tonight, and he nailed it when he said it was hard for him to remember a more enjoyable Packers season. Sure the great seasons during the mid-to-late '90s were fun, but those were kind of expected. This year has been made even more spectacular by the fact that almost nobody forecasted Farve's and the Packers' success ... It's been a heckuva ride.

Speaking of nailing it, this read, sent to me this week by my friend Raechel, is a classic too ... If only there were more like Brett. Then again, perhaps it's a good thing there's not. We'd probably take Brett for granted too ...

* * *

Saving my favorite for last ...

The winter baseball meetings. While everyone else was obsessing over Johan Santana (Over-rated ...) The Tigers quietly were going after the guy I was looking at this offseason as the best player available or on the block -- and then they not only swiped Miguel Cabrera, they got Dontrelle Willis too!! (Read it from the Tigers here.)

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge.

Lordy, lordy. I'm still trying to catch my breath.

And I'd almost forgotten the wonderful Edgar Renteria deal ... I can smell a Tigers World Championship right now ... It could be sweet.

In the mean time ...

I like this Cubs deal ...

Sunday reading

... I just "elfed" myself ... Check this out.

Here's some of the good reads that caught my eyes this week ...

Sports & Baseball ...
a On the Mark: Pats flat-out dominant
a Cubs to miss savvy McDonough
a McDonough's successor? Cubs let new owner decide
a He can't lose, but can he win?
a Glavine Returns to Braves With $8M Deal ... Good for him. I never thought he should have left the Braves in the first place ...
a Voting for MLB awards needs to change hands ... This guy's Colorado bias aside, the lack or Rockies winning postseason awards just isn't right.

TV ...
a A Looser Lucifer: Ray Wise Is Having A Helluva Good Time Playing the Devil ... Ray Wise does play a good devil. Although, I removed "Reaper" from our DVR a couple weeks ago, thinking I've seen enough and the show wasn't going anywhere. Sure the adventures were sort of amusing, but, to me, none of the episodes I was seeing were as good as the pilot. I saw it turning into the same thing week after week. And I couldn't take anymore of watching poor Sam agonizing over Andi ... I may return to the show some day. But for now I'd rather spend my Tuesday nights doing other things ...
a Prime Time for Reading? Survey Looks at Viewers' Plans During Strike ... Personally, I'm enjoying the writer's strike for the reprieve from constant TV-watching. I've been able to catch up on some reading and enjoy a whole lot of music ... If only it were so easy to turn off the TV without a writer's strike ...

Music ...
a Neil Diamond reveals 'Sweet Caroline' is about Kennedy daughter ... Arguably the most amusing news of the week ... I long for the day I get to experience singing this song among the Red Sox Nation at Fenway ...
a Music Q&A: Colbie Caillat gets 'Bubbly' ... Kates thinks she'll be a one-hit wonder. I guess we'll see ...

The Internet ...
a Educators weigh merits of social network sites
a Heads are turning to Facebook
a How to punish a cyber-bully

Politics & media ...
a 'Daily Show' host doomed to relive past ... The Musharraf interview still ranks as one of the more memorable things I've seen on The Daily Show ... ah, well.
a In San Jose, Downsizing With Dynamite
a Web Sites Tear Down That Wall
a Neatness counts ... Brian Williams' post and quips on the subsequent broadcast were pretty amusing too ...
a Drew Peterson case: Bright lights, big hassle for neighbors
a In a Watched Society, More Security Comes With Tempered Actions

Super games!

... Wow. Talk about a great weekend for sports ...

Yesterday I caught my beloved Badgers pull out a thriller against Illinois, and then watched my beloved Jayhawks (with a little help from our DVR -- because we had to break for Frank Caliendo) choke (again!) against lowly Texas Tech ... ugh.

... And then those football games today!

... During a conversation the other day about the Bears-Packers game that ended the regular season, I asked a buddy if he was a Bears or Packers fan. He told me he's a Packers fan when they're not playing the Bears ... I liked his answer. I'm a Bears fan when they're not playing the Packers.

... and so in today's game, I was cheering hard for the Bears. But when the Saints took the momentum into halftime and came out roaring to start the second, I was beginning to think the Bears were going to implode all over again ...

Then they turned it into a route ... Chicago will be going crazy the next couple weeks, and it's going to be great!

Then there was that Colts-Patriots game ...

I would've been pleased with either team in the Super Bowl. The Patriots are a class act, and it's fun to watch them play so well year after year. On the other side of the ball, the Colts are flat out good, and I've had a soft spot for Peyton -- another class act himself -- and the Colts for a few years now ... But if you asked me straight-up who I was rooting for, I would have answered the Colts ...

So I was a little disappointed when the Colts slipped so far behind early. So much so that I pretty much tuned out the game ...

... Until I looked up late in the fourth quarter and realized the Colts actually had a chance at winning the thing! ... Peyton's final drive, and then that interception to end it -- Holy cow, what a finish!

So it's Colts-Bears. A classic cross-state rivalry ... Now I've just gotta figure out who I will cheer for ...

Good reads ...
a Bears fans celebrate
a Takeaways propel Chicago to first Super Bowl since '85




* * *


01.22.07 ... adding today's front page of the Indy Star ...

Super predictions

... I didn't get to see very much of yesterday's football games because I was too busy (and more interested) in other projects and business around the house... But I had the games on in the background and managed to at least catch the most important points -- Robbie Gould kicking a winning field goal for the Bears and Tom Brady bringing the Patriots from behind against the Chargers ...

In a column this morning, Dave Goldberg makes a case of a Patriots-Saints Super Bowl ... I'd prefer a Colts-Bears matchup, but with the Tom Brady mystique and the way the Bears are playing, Goldberg's on to something ...