Ha! It's Back! RealJohnBoy's A2K NFL "Pick-Um" Game!

Yeah. It is all about cultural differences and what is familiar. The action in the 'other football' matches is my definition of watching paint dry: nil to nil match - OMG, what torture. Then there's all that sliding and faking contact to garner a penalty.

All sports suffer from uneven officiating, but after watching parts of this last World Cup and the debacle with UK match and that African (Ghanan?) official stealing away UK chances -- Bahhhh!

Then there's all that bee-buzzing racket from the vuvuzellas (sp)? that was torturous to the max.

Too bad the match's announcer isn't the same one (as from Tour de France) Phil Liggett. At least he's interesting. I just can't get warm up to Soccer. Just not enough scoring for most 'Merican tastes. With 'Merican football, there's plenty of hitting, scoring, and strategic offense and defense moves to follow.

I like both footballs, but know less re the tactics (etc.) of world football. It's cricket that I wonder about, though I suppose I could get used to it. The one sport I've never even wanted to watch is ice hockey, probably because I've heard seemingly forever about all the fighting going on in it.

There are a few sports that are awful to watch on TV. Tops (or bottoms) are Pro Golf and the next-to-worst is hockey. Totally impossible to follow the puck or ball on TV, even with an HD monitor. And you don't see the action on TV broadcasts as it's developing off-camera, as well as feeling the impact of the checking with body hits in the corners.

Personally, I go to NHL games regularly now that I'm in So. FL (TB Lightning). Trust me when I tell you that the experience at a hockey game is far different than on TV (and really exciting) watching the action at the arena. BTW, I've been to 4 hockey games so far this season and not seen one fight. I object to fighting, but its occurence currently is way overblown. It does happen, but it's much more under control than it once was.

Cricket? Those chirpy little bugs? Do they race them or put saddles on them?

Possibly at scoccer games it is far better than on TV. It'd HAVE to be!

Please remember JPB, Spendius, CoastalRat and Panzade that there is a game Christmas night plus, of course, 14 more games on Sunday-Monday.

the NFL is working on Christmas...?

I thought that was a holy week.

And I used to like golf, back in what I think of as golf's heyday (hay day?). Learned pitch and putt at a neat course (Rancho) and went to a couple of Opens with my father (so there is sentiment involved, those were the good years). I followed golf for maybe a decade after that. Now I'm back to "what?"

Nah Beth. It's biological in the pub. They've been boozing for thousands of years. Some say booze is mankind's greatest invention because without it nothing much else would have been invented. Bacchus Vivat and all.

One always makes rational decisions when sober. And everybody knows what they are before they start. It's very predictable is rationality.

Unfortunately, the holy and more serene aspects of the holiday season has been pre-empted by media's focus on the commercial aspects.

Steelers*

Cowboys

Bears
Patriots
Ravens
Rams
Chiefs
Dolphins
Jaguars

Texans
Chargers
Colts
Buccaneers
Packers

Eagles

Falcons 31--27

It's hard to say when the heyday for pro golf was. Was it the halcyon days of Palmer-Player-Nicklaus or the Tiger-Tiger-burning-bright days.

Again, as with most other sports, the excitement of seeing a golf tournament up-close-and-personal eclipses any sporting event watched on TV.

I was part of Arnie's army at fourteen, at least for a few days, and maybe at fifteen, I forget.
Now I'm more interested in golf course design. Many of those involved are landscape architects (moi, or I used to be - me not involved, but a land arch). A boss was involved, re extreme water management. I forget his scheme by now.

I turned against golf courses in California as a big assed waste of water and misuse of land, no matter how finessed re water usage, or so I thought; maybe a dry land natural course is possible there, I say now. I still have a little kernel of interest in how St. Andrew's functions, have read about it a bit.

Then there was Tommy Bolt (can't remember if I saw him).

You have a rather strange style osso. It's really very attractive.

You should write a book. Start like that and just let it go forth anyway you fancy for 300 pages and it would be a best seller. I would buy it at least.

About 100 pages in you could suddenly recall what the boss's scheme was.

Dallas

Chicago
New England
Baltimore
St Louis
Kansas City
Miami
Jacksonville

Houston
San Diego
Indianapolis
Tampa Bay
Green Bay

Philadelphia

Atlanta (31-28)

Honey, I did have a book in line, from a reputed architectural publisher, but I plotzed on it, my own fault (divorce, moving, yada yada).

I'm not as dumb as I sound.

In contrast to some..

Merry Christmas all!!

You probably made the mistake of trying to imitate how men write.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Dallas

New England
Chicago
Baltimore
Kansas City
St Louis
Detroit
Jacksonville
San Diego
Houston
Indy
Green Bay
Tampa
Philly

New Orleans (28-24)

O, Christmas tree, O, Christmas tree, thy leaves are unchanging.
O, CoastalRat, O, CoastalRat, thy picks we are still needing.

We had snow flurries this morning. I am betting that the bulk of the storm heading towards New England will sweep south and east of Cville, sparing us the 5 inches predicted for Richmond and D.C.
Only Tico and Region are choosing Arizona later today over Dallas. The weather in AZ at last check appears to be sunny with a temp of around 70 degrees.

When I lived in DC an inch of snow was a sign of the Apocalypse