24 Day 6: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Maybe my expectations were too high coming in (come to think of it, they could not have been higher). Maybe I started watching way too late (after 10:30). Maybe I just need some time to get warmed up to some of the new characters. Maybe this episode was laying a lot of the groundwork for the rest of the season. But I didn't care for last night's episode very much. I feel awful for even having such a thought.

There are a couple of reasons why I feel this way. The most noticeable thing for me is the lack of action at CTU, or at least the lack of any good scenes at CTU. The only person there who I really care about is Chloe, and she is almost completely an afterthought this season. Buchanan is getting a lot of face time, but he's never been the type of character you root for. Maybe they're setting him up to be that guy. We're really hurt by not having a sidekick of sorts for Chloe. In past seasons, we had Tony and Michelle, or Chloe and Edgar, or some combination of those 4. But now we're pretty much stuck with Chloe and a bunch of stiffs. Milo (Eric Balfour)? Give me a break. Why they decided to give that guy a run on this show is beyond me. He's been on several cancelled shows, most recently "Conviction" on NBC. Let's just say I'm not a big fan. The other new focal point of CTU, Nadia, is pretty nice to look at...the best CTU has ever had in the eye candy department...but she's just sort of there at this point. She seems like the obvious mole candidate, so I hope the writers don't go down that path. They need to have someone they can keep around for a couple of years, and I think she's the best bet. In the meantime, she's at least letting me throw around American Pie jokes with my buddy Dave.

My next problem is the whole plot revolving around Sondra Palmer. I hope and pray that the writers are just trying to buy some time, and that they really end up throwing in some kind of twist with what is going on here. Being related to the President, you'd think that Sondra would be a pretty important character, but they've spent six episodes now with these muslim detainees, only to find out that these guys don't have anything to do with the attacks we've seen. Thanks for wasting our time.

Ok, now enough with the bad stuff...on to the good stuff. I'm liking the stuff around Jack, and I really wish that they would focus on him more. The twist at the end was suprising, but not a jaw dropper. Graem is one bad dude, and he'll get his sooner or later. In fact, I'm practically giddy for the next episode.

In Bauer We Trust

DVD Review: Idiocracy

This review is going to be pretty short, because there really isn't a whole lot to talk about with this movie. Luke Wilson is an average guy in the army, and he's chosen to be part of a 1 year hibernation project. Anyway, things go awry and intead of sleeping away one year, Luke wakes up 500 years later. The only problem is, the world is a much different place.

If you've ever watched a show like Maury Povich, you've seen that often times, various hood rats and trailer park trash are reproducing like rabbits, and they don't know the father of their children. Many times, they have multiple kids with unknown fathers. Every time I see this, I can't help but ask myself why these people are reproducing exponentially and people like me are scared to death to even have one kid. Well anyway, that's sort of what happens in Idiocracy. The world has been overcome by idiots. Intead of survival of the fittest, we have survival of the welfare class. Everyone's a moron.

Basically the movie is a 90 minute long stupid-joke. Sort of like how the Bluntman and Chronic movie was described as a 90 minute long gay-joke at the end of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. I don't think it was a waste of time, but it wasn't funny enough to watch again either.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

John Madden on Letterman

John Madden was on Letterman last night, and while I couldn't find last night's video on youtube, here are his last two appearances. He has some pretty insightful things to say about the NFL, which I thought you guys would enjoy.

From October 6th


From December 18th

eenie, meenie, mynee,..........moe!

OK, It's official, Hillary, Clinton and Barack Obama have both announced their intentions for the '08 presidency. You have no idea how much this sickens me. Which is the lesser of 2 evils here?
Hillary is.......well everyone knows what Hillary is. She's a part of the Clinton Machine and has been ever since her old man was in the White House. Obama is almost just as liberal. Now, get this, the dirt is now, that Barack Obama was educated in a Muslim school in Indonesia when he was younger.
Great. Some reports say that he's actually Muslim and just hides it well. Others say that he was just getting a well rounded education when his family lived abroad. I don't care what the actual truth is. If he's been close enough to the fire, he's bound to get burned.
Brent, has anyone accused you of being a Muslim? Josh how 'bout you? I know I haven't. That means I've never been that close to being a terrorist. If he's been close enough to the action to be accused or be mistaken for a Muslim.......please.......the American people as a whole frighten me.
Now for Hill. We all know what a liberal, bra-burning, tofu-fartin', bleeding heartskunk she is. She's a Clinton for heaven's sake! She learned from the biggest worm of them all. I ranted on and on about her before, but I don't think enough can be said about what dire straits our country would be in if she were elected to the presidency.
First of all, the first ladt will be a former US President!! What a joke! I can't wait to see him in a skirt on election day!
Seriously, Hillary is pro-abortion, pro socialized medicine, pro big government, pro gay marriage, pro high taxes and anti-gun. Everything that this country was built on will come to an abrupt halt. I have a bad feeling that she has the best chance right now to make it out of the primaries. Frightening. She will want the government to control us. She will want everyone to have the same of everything, no rich, no poor, no capitalism. She'll try to take my guns away and try to make it ok for queers to have the same rights as you and me. It' so wrong. Hippie.
GW has disappointed me in the second half of his presidency, but at least he's a decent human being. At least he is a God-fearing man who loves his family. A church-going man who believes in the principles tha this great nation was built upon. I actually feel bad for him. He didn't ask someone to attack our nation less than a year into his first term. He was put in a "damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't" situation right off the bat. No win.
If anyone values America and values their right to choose, choose Mitt Romney. He's the best candidate for the '08 election. I challenge everyone to read about him and vote him through the primaries. Give him a shot. He has no skeletons, no drug addictions, and no queers in the closet waiting to pop out at him.
I'm just getting warmed up!!!

In Nuge we trust

24 Day 6: 10:00 am 11:00 am

Unfortunately, for the primary readers of this blog, Matt and Josh, tonight's episode was good but it was completely impossible to fully grasp the huge plot twist that was revealed tonight. In fact, neither of you even realized that a huge twist happened at all. The twist involves Jack's brother, either Gray or Graham. Maybe Gray is just a nickname.

Anyway, this is not the first time we have seen Jack's brother. We just didn't know that this guy was related to Jack when we saw him before. Last year, there was a terrorist plot involving nerve gas. There were about 20 canisters that terrorists wanted to use on American soil, and they had some limited success. Without giving too much of the plot away...you know, in case either of you ever go back and watch it...there were some high ranking government officials involved in the nerve gas plot. It was all a power play to control foreign oil, and Graham was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.

There was never any information revealed about him. You had to really pay attention to even get his name. He worked with some other shady dudes, and we never really knew their affiliation. Graham was the main point of contact with out government officials, and his tracks were covered well enough to the point that he was never implicated in anything. Until tonight it seems. It looks like there is a lot more than meets the eye to the Bauer family. My mouth literally dropped to the floor when this revealed. Insane. How on earth is Jack Bauer's brother a terrorist? And what role does Jack's dad have in all this? It sure as heck seems like he has a role in all this.

The rest of the show was pretty good tonight as well. Jack is back on board with CTU, and we're finally finding our way through the bad guy network, if only a little bit. I wish I could go to Vegas and bet on the odds that Hassan's plane doesn't make it all the way to DC. One way or another, my money is on his being dead within the next five episodes. But then again you never know.

19 more hours to go...

In Bauer We Trust

I have a dream...........

......that someday I'll be able to stop hearing about what freakin' color the coaches are in the Super Bowl.
Seriously. I couldn't give 2 squirts of piss that Lovie and Tony are both the first black coaches to lead their teams to the Super Bowl. This is all we will hear about for 2 weeks now. On NFL network this morning, Deion Sanders made a big deal about how proud he was to be a black man and all that crap. It's a joke. It's official. Society has officially made the drama before the game, bigger than the game itself. Ridiculous.
I love football. I love the game. I love the one-on-one battles, the schemes, and the combination of strength, speed, and finesse necessarry to be a great player. I hate TV timeouts, end zone dances, and story lines.
I think Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith are good, scratch that, great coaches. I also think, in a day of thugs and bling, that they are wonderful ambassadors for the NFL, great people. Why can't it be left at that? Do you think that before Super Bowl 1, everyone was talking about Lombardi and Stram being the first white coaches to coach in the Super Bowl? It's the truth, they were. Why wasn't that a story line??
I know I'm treading on thin ice in a politically correct world of fruits and nuts, but seriously, just play the damn game.
You want a story line? Guess what? Michael Vick is the first black QB in the NFL to get a fake water bottle confiscated in an airport. Nice.
Peyton manning is one of the best people in football. But outside Indianapolis, you won't see his jersey on anyone. You will see T.O.'s, Mike Vick's, Ray Lewis', etc. These guys are all head cases, drug users and murderers. But, they're black, so let's make sure we glorify them to the utmost.
Man, I'm all over the place with this post!
Best of luck to Tony and Lovie, they are good men regardless of race or color.

Hail to the Nuge.

AFC Championship Game

I have to admit - I'm kind of a bandwagon guy this postseason. I was rooting for Indy in this one for two reasons - 1) because the whooped the Chiefs pretty good and 2) I think Peyton Manning deserves a trip to the Super Bowl. I must admit that I was skeptical because of the whole Manning-chokes-in-the-post-season-against-the-Pats thing that's happened before. That, coupled with the fact that Manning's numbers weren't his best (by far) in the playoffs, didn't really allow me to get my hopes up. Well, it didn't matter because they won in an exciting fashion. This time, it was Manning orchestrating the winning drive and Brady missing at the end.

One point I do want to make - what is with Indy's defense? Were they just saving their best for the playoffs? How do they allow 100 yard rushers in all 16 regular season games, but not a single one in the playoffs? Hasn't it been the other way around in the past? I just don't get it. It's like the bazarro Colts showed up and told the real ones to stay home.

Point #2 - Why did the Patriots completely abandon the run? They had 84 rushing yards (as a team) in the first quarter alone, but then just quit running the ball. Isn't Belichik a genius? Am I the only one that thinks that they should have continued with the 3 to 2 run-pass ratio, especially since it was working? I should be a coach. Somebody get the Dolphins and Steelers on the phone. I gotta get an agent.

All this equates to a Indy-Chicago Super Bowl. On paper, it looks like a pretty good match-up. Chicago's fast D vs. Indy's high power O. Chicago's iffy offense with Sexy Rexy at the helm vs. who knows which Indy D will show up. And with Prince performing at halftime, how could you not watch. Nothing says football like Little Red Corvette and Raspberry Baret!

DVD Review: Danika

It's Saturday night and we're snowed in, so the trip to Blockbuster was a no brainer. I've been pretty disappointed with the selection lately. I've seen pretty much everything that looks good, so tonight we were just sort of grasping at straws. The wife wanted to see Danika, which according to the back of the box is about some woman experiencing hallucinations and having some kind of paranormal premonitions, so I figured what the hell. Besides, that just means that I'm entitled to a guy movie at some point in the future.

The other reason I decided not to put up a fight is because Marisa Tomei has the leading role. I don't know about anyone else, but I think she's pretty attractive, especially considering she's 43. Maybe I just think that way because George Constanza had a thing for her. But I digress.

The movie was actually pretty good. Marisa's character seems to be having weird hallucinations, and it seems like she's some kind of psychic, especially after a couple of things she dreams about come true. It's like she has ESP. It's actually pretty suspenseful...much more than I thought it would be. Usually movies about stuff like this are borderline retarded, but this was completely watchable.

Possibly the most surprising thing about the entire movie was that it ended at the 1 hr 15 min mark. I seriously thought it would be like a 2 hour movie. I mean, even movies like Old School are at least 1 hr 20 min long. This might be the shortest movie ever filmed. I can't say that I would recommend this flick, but if your wife is considering it, go ahead and convince her to get it. You'll probably like it, but even if you don't, you're barely out of an hour of time. Not bad!

Rating: 8 out of 10 (gains a point because of Tomei and short run time)

24 Day 6: 8:00 am-9:00 am and 9:00 am-10:00 am

Now that the dust has settled from the 2 night, 4 hour premier, I think I can finally organize some thoughts.

-There is a lot less going on at CTU this year so far compared to years past. Of course, a lot of this has to do with Jack not working directly for them. I love what I've seen out of Morris O'Brian though. That Milo guy is a total punk.

-I think I like Wayne Palmer as President. He's no Dennis Haysbert, but who is? I definitely don't like his chief of staff. Without question, he's a snake in the grass. Same goes for Palmer's sister. I swear, the Palmers are just about as bad as the Kennedy's. Anyone who has seen some of the other seasons knows exactly what I'm talking about. There's drama around every corner with this clan.

-I can't go any further without mentioning it, so I'll just go ahead and say it. I can't believe they actually detonated the nuc! In a heavily populated area no less. I knew we would be in for a whale of a final segment. Normally the last scene starts at about 52 minutes past the hour and this one started at 48 minutes past. The writers definitely didn't disappoint. I was sure that they'd be able to stop the nuc from going off. With all the radiation fallout possibilities, this is going to have huge ramifications on the rest of the season. They did a diagram of how much the surrounding areas will be affected, but I have no idea how close Jack was to the bomb. Obviously he could see it in the distance, but are they anywhere near the infected zone? Is CTU anywhere near the infected zone? I have a ton of questions about this.

-I was pretty surprised to see Curtis get killed off. I was almost positive that he was going to shoot the terrorist guy before Jack pulled the trigger. Of course, he might still be alive, but all indications point toward him being gone for good. It's kind of disappointing, but not a huge loss. I never really cared for him that much anyway. It would be much more tragic to lose somebody like Chloe. I should have known something was up when Roger Cross was listed as a "guest star" on the opening credits.

-I really hate having to wait another week before being able to see an episode. Last year when I originally started watching, I went back and watched the previous seasons on DVD, so at least I had something to tide me over. This year, I have nothing. I would HIGHLY recommend going back and watching all the previous seasons starting from the beginning. This show is like crack. You just can't get enough. Besides, Season 1 is on sale at Target for only $20. There's no excuse for not picking it up. I have no idea how long this sale lasts, but it's easily worth buying.

-I guess we're not going to see any of Audrey Raines this season. I thought this was a possibility, with Kim Raver being involved in another show this season. I guess there really isn't a whole lot else to cover between her and Jack, but I liked having her on the show. Maybe she'll come back later in the season since "The Nine" tanked so badly.

-Back to the opening moments of the first episode...was the guy who blew up the bus Asian? That brings me to another thought...what did Wayne Palmer give up to get Jack back from the Chinese? I hope they cover this in future episodes. Was it money? Sensitive information of some kind? They have to explain this or it's going to drive me crazy.

-I tried to go to bed right after I finished watching, and it just isn't possible. I can't wait until next week.

Anyone else have any thoughts at all?

24 - 6:00 am - 7:00 am and 7:00 am - 8:00 am

What a way to hit the 100th post on this blog! I've been waiting for this day for months on end, and I'm glad to see it is finally here. Apparently both of you watched tonight, so here are some of the things I missed in my preview, and some general thoughts on the evening.

-The bald guy working for CTU, Morris, is Chloe's ex-husband. It appears that they are dating at this point. I really don't know a whole lot about this guy, since they just threw him in towards the end of last season. He appears to be pretty computer savvy, but I don't know how much I trust him. I hope he grows on me as we go along. He seems to have a lot of connections, as evidenced by his ability of access the non-government satellite.

-I totally blew it by not mentioning Karen Hayes in my preview. She is the older blonde chick who is President Palmer's national security advisor. Last year, she had a major role as the Director of Homeland Security. I thought it was pretty surprising that she was married to Buchanan. Good for him, he's definitely married up (haven't we all?).

-There is a lot of new blood this season. The hot brunette working at CTU (Nadia?) is new, and Milo made a brief apparance way back in Season 1, so basically he's new too.

-Kal Penn as a bad guy! I like it. Way better than Sean Astin getting casted last season as a senior CTU official with a serious Napoleon complex.

-How much of a bad ass is Jack Bauer? The guy spends almost 2 years being torturned by the Chinese, and within 45 minutes managed to kill a guy with his mouth, and thrusts him into the middle of the terrorist bombings. Insane. It's really weird to see Jack working without any help from CTU at all, but I'm sure he'll go back to them at some point.

-I'm going to keep it relatively short tonight, since I want to wait and see what happens tomorrow night. Full analysis of the premier will be posted then.

In Bauer We Trust

Tony G's New Money

I know that the Cheifs' season is over, but I just can't stop beating this dead horse. Today I read on espn.com that they extended Tony Gonzalez's contract for another 5 years for "terms that were not disclosed." Rumor has it that it is a record sum for a tight end. Great. Let me tell you the two main reasons why this sucks:

1) Why are we paying a large sum of bread to a tight end? When was the last time that a tight end won MVP? How about a tight end leading a team to the Super Bowl? I know, I know - never. There is no reason to pay huge money to a tight end. Granted, he is in the top 3 in the league with Antonio Gates and Todd Heap. I also know that he has broken and will break a lot of team receiving records. His talent is not the question - it's his position. It's like giving a punter a record deal - he may be great at what he does, but he's not going to carry a team on his back. The only way I can justify this is that Mi Cocina must have thrown in some dough to keep him in town for celebrity face time in the "VIP" area.

2) The Chiefs have so many needs right now that it is ridiculous to overpay a tight end. We should be using him as trade bait and getting draft picks or tackles (offense and defense), wide receivers and somebody that can play quarterback. You probably could have gotten a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick for him, or a better-than-average receiver. You have Chris Wilson that has proven (when he's in the game) that he can play the position and Jason Dunn is one of the best blocking tight ends in the business. We've needed receivers for years, but Carl just continues to ignore this. I just don't get it.

The most humorous part of this deal was that, yesterday, Carl and Herm both said that there will be drastic personnel changes in the off-season. Well, this is a great start! My dad said that Carl is more concerned with getting hall of fame guys than winning championships. This is a great point, with the likes of Gonzalez, Will Shields and Willie Roaf. We are getting players right now, but not a team (see Patriots and Saints). Until Carl sees this, or starts to care, we as fans should not be surprised with mediocre seasons and early playoff exits.

Oh, and on a somewhat related note, if Dante Hall is still on this roster by summer, I quit.

My Plea to Matt and Josh

I don't ask for much, so hear me out. This Sunday is going to be a whale of a day. First things first is the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Now that our horse, the Chiefs, have broken their leg, been taken out back and shot, we can just relax and enjoy the playoffs. First up, Seattle is at Chicago at noon on Fox. Later, New England is at San Diego at 3:30 on CBS. But the main event starts at 7:00 back on Fox. It's the season premier of 24. And both of you should watch. It's a great show, and I need someone to discuss it with. Just devote two hours of your Sunday night and give it a try. Send the wife to the other room to watch Desperate Housewives. Do whatever it takes. The premier is a 2 night event, two hours Sunday night, and 2 hours Monday night. I can all but guarantee that the Nuge is a fan of the show, and you will be too.

Here's what you need to know.

Some background...The show is based around the Los Angeles Counter-Terrorist Unit (CTU). How could a couple of Republicans such as yourselves not enjoy a show about killing terrorists? Doesn't that sound cooler than watching a re-run of Laguna Beach (Josh)? Everything takes place in real time, so there are no flashbacks, slow motion, or time jumps of any kind. Everything is shown as it happens, and each show lasts for one hour. Obviously, each season entails preventing a disastrous terrorist attack, and this one is no different. This time around, there have been a series of attacks on various cities, and the county is in a state of disarray. I really don't know much more than that, because I've been trying to avoid any plot spoilers.

On to the cast.

Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland) is a government agent for CTU, and is without question the star of the show. When we last saw Jack, he was being abducted by the Chinese government thanks to his role in the death of one of their government officials. It's a long story, but that's all you really need to know. He's been in some kind of torture camp for the last 18 months (give or take) and is sporting a heck of a beard this year. Of course, this is not entirely a one-man show, so here are some of the other characters that you need to know about in order to really grasp what is going on.

Chloe O'Brian: She's the resident computer genius at CTU. She also has some kind of personality issue where she's extremely rude to everyone and is totally insensitive of their feelings. Sounds like someone I know. Anyway, at some point, I'm sure she'll be working with Jack behind someone else's back. She can hack into anything at any time and is a very valuable asset to Jack.

Bill Buchanan: He's the head honcho at CTU. He probably won't bring a whole lot to the table, but he'll be prominently involved in whatever CTU is doing.



Wayne Palmer: I should probably list him higher, since he's the President of the United States. He is also the brother of former 24 President David Palmer, and was actually David's chief of staff during Season 3. I honestly have no idea what kind of a President he will turn out to be, but I'm going to guess that he'll be involved in at least one shady story line. He did most of David's dirty work when he was President.


Audrey Raines: She works for the Department of Defense and has had big roles over the last two seasons. She's Jack's love interest on the show (don't worry, it's more of a subplot, if anything). I'm not really sure if she'll have a big role this season or not. Kim Raver was working on "The Nine" this fall, but it tanked, so this is really anybody's guess.

Curtis Manning: He's a CTU field agent, and there really isn't a whole lot else to say. He doesn't bring much charisma to the screen, but he's usually heading up whatever operation that isn't being done single handedly by Jack.



Kim Bauer: Jack's estranged daughter. Most fans of the show would rather see her go away forever. She probably won't even make an appearance this season, and I'm fine with that. If she does happen to show up, she'll probably be killed. There just isn't much use for her anymore.


That's basically all you need to know. Give it a shot. Seriously, it's the most addicting show on TV. Nothing else is close. Neither of you losers even bother watching Friday Night Lights anymore, but this is your chance to redeem yourselves. Besides, I'm still going to post 3,000 words per week about it whether you watch or not, so you might as well check it out.

In Daughtry We Trust

Just Curious.....

What do you think about this?
Bill Cower was the defensive coordinator for the Chiefs. He gets a head coaching gig for the Steelers. He wins a championship. Dick Vermeil goes to 2 Super Bowls with the Eagles and the Rams. He wins a championship with the Rams. Coaches the Chiefs as a fairly mediocre team.
Now Marty Shottenheimer has a damn good shot at winning it all this year. Let's say he wins the big one this year. That's a lot of KC Chiefs connections that couldn't do it here, but could in other places. I'm just curious if that will ever come back to Carl Peterson. It can't be a coincidence. Why can't we win here, but some of the same coaches can have success elsewhere??? Am I way off here?
I can't figure it out.

DVD Review - Miami Vice

First of all, I had no expectations going into this one - and I was not disappointed. This movie is much like the Chiefs 2006 campaign - it is meteocre in every sense of the word. The two main issues with this movie are:

1) It is nothing like the original TV series. The only similarities are the names of Crockett and Tubbs, they're in Miami and they're chasing a drug cartel. That's it. It is set in modern day with Crockett and Tubbs in trendy clothes and riding in expensive Ferrari's and speed boats. And yes, they were both wearing socks for the entire movie. Ridiculous. Not one single pasel shirt or bunched-up jacket sleeve. If I had never heard the title "Miami Vice," I would have never known that they were related.

2) Colin Farrel sucks. Period. He is a horrible actor and was never believable as a detective, let alone Sonny Crockett. And, to top it off, it had a mustache...yes, a mustache. It was terrible! He looked more like a Boogie Nights extra than a police detective. He could not cover up is Irish accent either. He was pronouncing every word like he was a finalist in the spelling bee. Somebody more believable could have really helped this movie.

The chase scenes, exposions and shootouts made this one tolerable and the plot was pretty good. Jamie Foxx did a good job as Tubbs, too. I just wish that they would have made it more 80's-ish and actually patterned it after the TV show. It was not good, but not bad either.

Grade: 6 out of 10

I love the Broncos!!!

No, no, not the Denver ones. Even though I do appreciate their efforts (or lack thereof) in aiding the Kansas City Chiefs' bid to the playoffs. I'm talking about Boise State. Monday night, I think I watched the most entertaining college football game that I've ever seen in my life. No exaggeration.
Boise State beat the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl. Only the second team in a non-BCS conference to win in a BCS bowl since the inception of the BS......sorry, BCS. The first team was my Utes from the University of Utah when they beat Pitt 2 years ago with Alex Smith at the helm. By the way, thank you Alex for your part in the Chiefs' extended season.
I'm not even going to do a play-by-play on the game. There's no way to do a game like that justice with words. All I can tell you is that Bob Stoops was completely out-coached. His players were out-hustled, and I think we've just found a new offensive genious! Within the last minute of the game, plus overtime, they ran a hook and lateral on 4th and 18 and scored on it with 7 seconds left in regulation. In overtime, they scored their touchdown on a halfback "run-pass" option where the back ended up throwing the touchdown pass to the tight end in the back of the endzone with the QB, Jared Zabansky, in motion.
Then, to beat all, this coach has the balls to go for 2 and just end it at 1 overtime. They run the "Statue of Liberty" play!! It was the best executed play of that kind that I've ever seen. Ian Johnson ran into the endzone with no defensive players within 15 yards of him!!
Zabransky put on one of the most gutsy performances I've ever seen at the QB position in college. He threw an interception with only a minute left in the game to put OU ahead by 7. In 53 seconds, he takes his team down the field to tie it up, sending it to OT. He was nails.
I had goose bumps at the end of that game. It's one that I will truly never forget.
I know I might piss some people off by saying this, especially in this part of the country, but Big 12 football bores me now. I started really watching WAC and Mountain West games about 10 years ago and love the brand of football that they bring to the table. I'm not saying that all those teams in those conferences are the same caliber as the Big 12 or SEC, but they play with some heart, they put up some points, and it seems that they have some real offensive minds in these leagues.
So sue me.

Playoffs?!?!

A week ago today, I thought the Kansas City Chiefs were eliminated from the playoffs. Actually, I was pretty sure of this all the way back in week 1 as rain was pouring down on Arrowhead Stadium and Trent Green was being carried off the field on a stretcher. First, Willie Roaf retired and T-Rich left for Minnesota. Now the franchise QB, the one guy we could not possibly survive without, was laying on the ground after taking a vicious shot to the head.

Fast-Forward 17 weeks, and WE'RE IN THE PLAYOFFS!!! How the heck did this happen?

Yesterday I checked ESPN.com and saw that we were still mathematically alive, but I didn't even really notice what needed to happen because I figured the playoff chance was so remote, that it wasn't even looking into. I opened a copy of the KC Star, and here's what needed to happen:

1) We had to beat Jacksonville. I actually felt pretty good about this one. We're playing at home against a Florida team when the forecast called for flurries and cold weather all day long. Perfect. Jacksonville played a good game, and we were far from perfect, but it was just enough to pull through. Sidebar: Trent Green looked awful, Damon Huard looked magnificent. This still isn't quite the same as Gannon/Grbac, since Green has been playing for the last 2 months, but after the game yesterday, there are going to be plenty of people in town calling for Huard to start. Of course it may not even matter, since Indy's run defense allows 5+yards per carry. LJ will have 40 carries.

With the game in hand, I glanced at my phone to check the Pittsburgh/Cincinnati and New England Tennessee scores. Both were close game. I was nervous.

2) New England had to beat Tennessee. I figured this was a pretty easy one. Tennessee has gotten much better this year, but New England is the epitome of a professional football team. They're not flashy, but they get the job done more often than not. It was a close game as I was walking out of Arrowhead, but by the time I got to the car, the Pats had put the game out of reach.

3) Pittsburgh had to beat Cincinnati. I thought this game was a coinflip. Obviously Cincy was playing for something and Pittsburgh was not, but it's a division game, so anything can happen. The final seconds were waning off the clock at Arrowhead when about 2 sections over, this group of people starts going crazy yelling about wide right. I knew the game was tied going down to the wire in the first quarter, so there was our break. Then just as 0:00 hit, the cut to the game on Arrowvision, and the Steelers had just scored a TD. But everyone was kind of holding their breath, because there was still one more miracle that needed to happen.

4) San Francisco had to beat Denver. In Denver no less. Definitely NOT feeling good about that one. On the radio, the guys on 101.1 said that Denver blew a couple early chances and had to settle for field goals. By the time I got home and the second half was underway, it was 13-3 and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I guess it was just too good to be true. But the 9ers chipped away with a nice TD pass followed by an absolute GIFT from Jay Cutler to Walt Harris. Pick 6 the other way, and we're in business! A late field goal gave Frisco a 7 point lead. But you just knew Denver would respond. 80 yards later we have a tie ball game.

In OT, two Denver drives stalled. Unbelievable. I would have bet almost anything that if Denver gets to OT drives, they score on at least one of them. Totally amazing. But with time running down, I was halfway convinced that the game would end in a tie, which was all the Broncos needed for a playoff birth. But one reverse and one pass later, we're in field goal territory and Joe Freaking Nedney has the chance to become a hero in a town 600 miles to the east. He nailed the kick (barely...I actually thought he missed it and started sreaming obscenities) and the game was over.

It took a few seconds to really sink in. I couldn't believe it, the game was actually over...no more chances for Denver...Chiefs in, Broncos out. What an amazing chain of events. I really hope we take out Indy next week. They've done it to us twice, so some revenge would be sweet. I honestly don't think we have a prayer of winning that game, but then again, I didn't think we had a prayer of making it to the playoffs either.

And just for fun, here are a couple Jim Mora meltdowns. Can't we bring this guy back to be someone's media relations person? This needs to happen.